Xenophobic attacks: Reps Foreign Affairs Committee calls for calm

The Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs, Rep. Yusuf Buba (APC-Adamawa), has said that the xenophobic attacks on Nigerians in South Africa will soon be brought under control.

In a statement issued on Tuesday in Abuja, Buba called for calm and patience, saying that the committee was monitoring the situation closely.

“On our part as a committee of the House of Representatives, we are already monitoring closely the situation in the Republic of South Africa beyond what is being put out in the social media.

“We are also reaching out to the Nigerian authorities and our leaders across the globe to see what can be done to effectively manage the ongoing carnage against our people.

READ: Kwara legislature calls for revocation of Saraki’s house

“We use this opportunity to also appeal for calm among our people, who, understandably, may be highly agitated by the reality of the attacks.

“We urge patience and pray that in the coming hours, things will come under total control,” he said.

Buba said that the hearts and prayers of the committee were with the families whose loved ones were victims of the attacks.

According to him, the barbaric attacks have become one too many in recent years and it is condemnable by all men and countries of goodwill.

The lawmaker said that the United Nations Charter on Peoples Rights and African Union’s Conventions and Protocols, to which both Nigeria and South Africa were signatories, allowed for free movement of persons, goods and services.

Buba said that it was bewildering that it was fast becoming the pastime of some countries to treat Nigerians as objects of disdain and torture, for very flimsy reasons, saying that this must stop.

“I, therefore, call on the Federal Government to join hands with the National Assembly to engage South Africa to find definite solutions to the ongoing act of insanity in that country,” he added.