The federal government has revealed that President Muhammadu Buhari will address Nigerians on the return of the special envoy sent to President Cyril Ramaphosa, to register Nigeria’s displeasure over the killing of Nigerians in South Africa.
Geoffrey Onyeama, Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs Minister, confirmed the recall of Nigerian High Commissioner, to South Africa, Ambassador Kabiru Bala.
Onyeama said that he would return alongside the special envoy.
He said: “The envoy will be back by the end of this week. Ideally, Mr. President will decide how he will communicate to the nation whether through live address or a written statement. But we feel that it will be better for him to do so once he has all the elements.
“We feel it will be better, let the special envoy come back and when we have everything that we need then he will then address the nation on that.”
Responding to why the identity of the envoy is yet to revealed, Onyeama said: “The identity of the special envoy will be revealed in due course. There are certain reasons why we don’t want to do so immediately.
“On measures being taken, of course, the security agencies are fully aware of the threats to various businesses in Nigeria at the moment and they are fully mobilised to address that.”
On why the Nigerian High Commissioner had been recalled when the envoy was on his way to South Africa, he said: “No. it is one of the options being considered. He will need to come back but we feel he should come back after the envoy has gone there, so that Mr. President will have the benefits of the full and comprehensive brief from all the individuals who were in a position to have seen things at a close range.”
