South Africa apologizes To Nigeria over deportations, blames airport health officials | Welcome to Linda Ikeji's Blog

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Thursday 8 March 2012

South Africa apologizes To Nigeria over deportations, blames airport health officials

I'm sure you've all heard. South Africa today apologized for the deportation of 125 Nigerians last week, who, according to airport health authorities, carried fraudulent yellow fever cards. Their statement below...
We wish to humbly apologize to them, and we have," South Africa's deputy foreign minister, Ibrahim Ibrahim, told reporters. "We are apologizing because we deported a number of people who should not have been deported."
Ibrahim said South African airport authorities did not properly check to determine whether the cards were authentic. He said South Africa was considering reopening a health clinic at the airport to ensure such deportations are not repeated.
Foreign Minister Olugbenga Ashiru said a special South African envoy was expected soon to convey the apology in person.
On behalf of Mr. President and the federal government of Nigeria, I as foreign minister will accept the apology and I will be sending a letter back to my counterpart in South Africa accepting the apology of the South African government

35 comments:

BLOGLORD said...

Dem for no beg, dem for loose big time.

Anonymous said...

That's good. Now, SA will know that Nigeria is not a country to toil with. Mtscewwwwww.

The Great Oracle said...

Ibrahim - "Your Excellency, how do we handle this Nigerian problem?

Zuma - "Just apologise to them. Remember we make money off them. They cant produce anything, just consuming. Can you compare the number of their citizens here with ours over there? We occupy top executive positions there, here they mix with Soweto miscreants. We have MTN, Multichoice, etc there. Except for branches of their local banks here to help launder stolen money, what other investment can you refer to here from them? Abeg apologise fast, they have noothing to lose.

Yetinde said...

Dats d way it should be done,awon omo alè jatijati,who be dier mate.....lol.nonesense.

Anonymous said...

Apology accepted. Always treated foreigners well

labalaba said...

I just love this Gbenga dude. Ntoin to all you naysayers that were condeming him yesterday. Did his actions get us HEARD or what! Kudos minister. There has to be something SA's are getting from naija that they apologized!!! My people shine ur eyes o. SA's are typically arrogant but for them to have publicly done this, there is hidden wealth in naija o. U all better start tapping in. Don't dull

orekelewa said...

Perfect. Mutual respect is all we ask for. I applaud you mr ahiru but if one of ur co workers was not amongst the deported, would u have taken action. Pls let us fight for all naijas accross the board. This is indeed good news!

NKECHI said...

Good. This is how it should be. Going forward, before they look down on Nigerians, they will look back. Awon were.

Anonymous said...

How about the other things they asked like full compensation to all those wrongly deported?

Anonymous said...

But come to think of it who really gets an authentic yellow pass when traveling. My wife and I bought two by the airport entrance for 5k on our way to Gambia and the security operatives didn't even care. What are we even running to SA for? Our leaders have finished this country to a point where Nigerians prefer to stay in SA than home. It serves us right. Someone was saying we should boycott all SA companies in Nigeria, and i asked can we do it? can u live without DSTV, MTN, OR SHOPPRITE,where is the one that you the Nigerians have built, sebi we ran down HITV etc. We talk too much in this country, we don't create anything yet we are louder than everyone else. It annoying when other countries just do crap on Nigerians and get away with it, because in their eyes we have become empty gongs. You think they apologized because they are afraid of you, read the full text and see, you cant go into SA now without original papers, which means we must all drag our asses to do them test before they allow u enter, if you don't , they will have clinics at the airport to force you to do it, SO WHO HAS WON! But i bet you they will come into Nigeria and no one will stop them cos you have CORRUPT officials at the airport that will clear them for N20. NONESENSE!!!

duchessa said...

It was really wrong of them we accept their apology but we have learnt from this

Anonymous said...

So does that mean that we the 'Association of high class SA prostitutes' have been pardoned? Yaay!! We can carry on business as usual with our beloved politicians in 9ja & transmit HIV to unsuspecting victims. Yaay!!

Anonymous said...

Great oracle or wateva u call ursef,u r so insensitive 4 such a comment.

Anonymous said...

Lmfao.....so true

Anonymous said...

Does it mean the Politicians are bringing back the prostitutes, lwkmd

Innoxx said...

Roftlmao...9Ja don suffer he he he...lol!

My own 1 cent. said...

@Anonymous March 8, 2012 9:11 PM

Well said

However to your question: who really gets an authentic yellow pass when travelling???

I ve had to go through the proper way to get the yellow card at various times I had to travel from 9ja....So therefore if u didn't bother to do the proper thing...does not mean we all don't.

Anonymous said...

Mtcheeeeeew.....unnecessary shakara....

#Queeny!

I am, the no Sender. said...

I hate it when we so demean our country. In a sense it shows how we look and value ourselves individually.
No doubt our problems and aje too much especially fro our leaders but it doesn't mean that no good can come from us as a people.
Even the so called correct we dey give SA no be the blacks there dey do am na majority of the oyibo dutch Afrikaans they make am possible. If na their black population, where those ones go near us.
They were wrong, they've said they are sorry so, let's move forward.

Anonymous said...

when money is involved, people ditch their pride. Only apology? is he going to refund them their ticket money?

Anonymous said...

You bought yellow card for 5k,ewo see gbain.its 300 naira o

Anonymous said...

Nigeria is just being very petty.
Many travelling Nigerians do not have authentic yellow cards. You obtain them at local government office for a small fee; or at the airport at a more exhorbitant charge.

I have yellow fever vaccination. Unfortunately, when I was travelling the govt. hospital where I got vaccinated didn't have records, neither did they issue me any document stating I had being vaccinated.
I was told to stop wasting time and go and 'buy' one.

Now that S.A will open a clinic at the airport, they'll test incoming passengers for proper antibodies. I can guarantee 90% will fail the test. Let's see who'll laugh last. Only kids (born to sensible parents) will probably pass the test, since most of them get immunized/vaccinated for a range of diseases.

In a country where polio is still prevalent, with health officials not having records of those vaccinated or not; let's not blame other countries for deporting Nigerians for the fear of 'importing' preventable and communicable diseases into their countries. Let's not even talk about cholera ..... I weep for this nation. The HIV they have to deal with enough.

Ask anyone who forgot to take anti-malarial tablets how they were treated at a UK hospital for malaria, you'll understand what all the fuss is about.
Tit for tat isn't the way forward, and all those supporting the actions of the Nigerian govt are just as useless and petty as the idiotic people who retaliated.

Atobatele said...

Can the government of Jonathan also reciprocate the actions of the Saudi Government that takes pleasure in incarcerating Nigerians at will, without even having the courtesy of informing the Nigerian diplomatic missions in that Kingdom ? Or is Minister Ashiru waiting for a Senator to be arrested and humiliated before he made the Saudi authority to know that Nigeria also has a muscle to flex? South Africa behaved very maturedly in this matter and should not be blamed for the inability of the Nigerian authority to put their house in order; allowing all manners of fake travel documents go un-detected at the various Nigerian ports and borders. Corruption on the part of Nigerian government officials was responsible for the stalemate that erupted between the two brotherly countries of South Africa and Nigeria. Thanks to our honorable Minister of Foreign Affairs, pls kindly look into all Nigerian embassies, the diplomats are just there collecting free salary without working for it. Nigeria embassy should be a home for Nigerians outside Nigeria.

the white enchantress said...

STORY........... if you like don't do your homework well. it will repeat itself again and soonest because from the look of things,no country wants Nigerians messing up their countries so they are diplomatically looking for ways to stop this huge influx into their countries.

Anonymous said...

They should also refund the full cost of the tickets for all those who were on board. Na wa oh! S.A don grow wings no be small. Wetin we dey go find for there self? Nonsense! Make we siddon make our own beta.

Anonymous said...

oh so they are tired when they netion mtn dstv being looked into see how dem cave in very serves them right

Anonymous said...

Country we fought and bleed for to ensure they are Independent.. even if not for anything.. its bad.

EVEN GOD DEY LAFF said...

dem beg us sha,dem for wait until everybody change there sim card to GLO. BTW,IM SO disappointed in nigeria govt.linda do u no if senator udume egba was nt der all dis talk about nigeria retaliating won't have come out at all.9ja we hail dee

Anonymous said...

Most Nigerians are so ignorant on issues and at the same tme make policy statements like they have a clue of what they are saying. When this issue came up, I opined that Nigeria can and has the capacity to cripple SA's economy if they ventured into the realm of economic war. Some were saying that Nigeria should not try to get into economic war with SA cos it will be to their detriment. People, Nigeria can mess SA up if it comes to economic war. They need us more than we do. If you check the balance of trade between both countries you will be amazed how much they need Nigeria. And in International Relations, it is Zero Sum game, winner takes it all and Nigeria can comfortably do that and come out on top. Nigeria should go a step further with SA by requesting for total disregard of the yeloow fever nonsense. This disease has been combatted in Nigeria for years, therefore, that argument is mute and secondly, even if the yellow card thing is fraudulent, they should put the blame on their embassy for issuing visas to the folks. This time, I am proud of the Nigerian Government and Gbenga Ashiru, The foreign Affairs minister. I am tempted to disclose my identity but I will resist that.

Anonymous said...

All of you on this site should just shut up. Ignorant illiterates. The difference between the comments here and those on other proper blogs is so noticeable. I will admit this blog is a guilty pleasure but mehhhhn - the low class people on this blog astound me everytim$e

Anonymous said...

dem neva start....next people na mtn....make dem goooo...their fagbo!!!!

I am, the no Sender. said...

@Anonymous Mar 8, 2012 09:10 PM you are right though almost on all points until you became abusive. It's not necessary. People will make their contributions based on their experience or knowledge no matter the limitation. Yet, it is their experience. If you feel differently, you simply state it and perhaps this will even educate people further. But when you insult others because their perspective is different you definitely reduce your self to the base, gutter, uncouth personalities you see in some of our streets.
Personally, I do think that the Nigeria's goverenment retaliatory action was ok. It will help prevent a repition in future and if we are consistent in this, word will get across nations that our government does not joke with its citizens. This can help breed respect for our people overseas.
However, in the main just as you've suggested we ought to put our house and act in order to prevent these embarassments in future.

femillionaire said...

Linda o... South Africans have finished us... www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/2012/03/08/south-africa-apologises-to-nigeria?filter=all_comments

Cherish News said...

Just to Save Political Face ...

Cherish News said...

Just to Save their Political Face...

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