The chairman board of trustees, Nigerian citizens in South Africa, Chief Chuks Okolie gave this appraisal in an interview with DAILY POST in South Africa, noting that Buhari’s visit to the country ensured that Nigerians in the country were safe.

He added that, “The situation like you could see since you arrived has been normal and everything is okay now. Everybody is going about their business and there is relative peace, there is peace now,”

While recounting what led to the recent xenophobic attack on Nigerians and other foreign nationals in South Africa, Okolie stated that some uninformed miscreants who had disagreements with foreign nationals took the laws into their hands.

He said, “It was just a misunderstanding. You will agree with me that in every society, there are some miscreants; the uninformed South Africans that took law into their hands and because of some disagreement they went into the street and they started looting.

“ It was purely looting, it was an act of no provocation. When it started, we the Nigerian citizens in diaspora association went into fact-finding and we found out that the issue was not connected to Nigerians but just a few misunderstandings that started in a small place and some miscreants took laws into their hands and started looting foreign-owned shops.

“I will not say that it was a case of South Africans hating Nigerians or other foreigners but in every smoke, there is a fire. There might be a South African that doesn’t like a Nigerian and when that issue comes up, they will use it as an avenue to leverage on the misunderstanding or misconception.”

When asked how the South African government was tackling the situation to stop a reoccurrence of such attack and what the Nigerian government have done for Nigerians who were repatriated during the attack, Okorie said, “Initially we were not happy because the South African police stood by and watched South Africans destroy and loot businesses but I will tell you that since the visit of President Buhari, things have changed. The police has also promised to always be at the scene or on call whenever issues like that come up.

She revealed that two aircrafts will convey the Nigerians willing to come back home, and also added that the Nigerian government is still demanding for compensation for victims of the xenophobic attacks in South Africa.

She said “As I speak with you now, we have 640 Nigerians voluntarily registered to come home and they will be home in a couple of days and we believe that more will still be coming to register. Two planes will convey them. the envoy will be briefing the president. When we receive the first two batches, we will know how many more will come. With the envoy’s briefing to the president, we will be having everything in place. They went on their own and have volunteered to come back. They belong to states as well but on the part of the federal government, we have the GEEP programme that we encourage them to enrol in, small scale entrepreneurial programme with the Bank of Industry, Special Intervention Programme also. In the meantime, we continue to demand compensation for Nigerians that have been attacked in South Africa.”

He said that they arrested 74 persons in Katlehong on Thursday September 5, bringing the total number of arrests since the violence erupted in Johannesburg to 497.

Peter also said that 11 people have been killed since the xenophobic attack and looting of shops began in the former apartheid country. He however affirmed that only 7 deaths were directly linked to the incidents of violence which the police is investigating.

The African leaders withdrew from the three-day event holding in Capetown after the xenophobic attacks launched by South Africans against foreigners especially Nigerians.

Zimbabwean media personality, Josey Mahachie also confirmed that the Zambian National team cancelled its friendly match with South Africa, citing security concerns.