A dead line has been issued to South Africa that they should apologise to Nigeria today for the illegal deportation of 125 Nigerian passengers last Friday at the Oliver Thambo International Airport in Johannesburg or face stiffer measures, officials revealed last night.
Just as new details have emerged that Nigeria Senate Leader, Senator Victor Ndoma Egba (SAN) was the senator deported from South Africa with 125 other Nigerians on Friday 2nd March for allegedly possessing "fake" yellow cards.
Nigeria has given five conditions to be met by South Africa to end the impasse sparked by the incident.
They are:
•unconditional apology to Nigeria over the deportation of 125 Nigerian travellers;
•compensation for all the victims of the cruelty;
•disciplinary action against all the officials involved in the incident;
•a review of the Yellow Fever Vaccination Card policy; and
•a commitment that such a diplomatic slip will not reoccur
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs source, who pleaded not to be named, said: "We are awaiting the response of South Africa to our demands by Thursday (today).
"Just wait till Thursday and you will be proud to be a Nigerian from the steps we are going to take."
The row continued last night, with Nigeria deporting 42 more South Africans, who flew into Lagos aboard a South Africa Airways flight 060.
South Africa retaliated by turning back five Nigerians, also last night. Two of the Nigerians flew Arik Air . The others were on South African Airways.
The Nation learnt that the African Union may have intervened in the diplomatic row between the two countries. Some leaders are said to be pleading with President Goodluck Jonathan to overlook the excesses of South African President Jacob Zuma.
Another source said: "I think the AU has stepped into the crisis, in view of the strategic roles of Nigeria in Africa. The AU is worried because Nigeria is the largest contributor to peace-keeping operations in Africa.
"Some countries are pleading with President Jonathan not to give President Zuma a chance to divide the Union.
A source said: "We will not stop the deportation until we reach the 125 limit deported last Friday by Immigration officials in South Africa. It is an eye for an eye.
Nation
Nigeria has just turned a lot of South Africans who were not opposed to it into passionate haters of anything and everyone Nigerian. You have the most shockingly immature, racist and xenophobic hypocritical government. All that the Nigerian government has achieved is a wider, more intense hatred of Nigerians and has put the lives of Nigerians in South Africa at great risk.
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