Buhari To Visit South Africa In October

 

Rhamaphosa, Buhari
Presidents of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa and President Muhammadu Buhari

Khusela Diko, spokesman of President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa has said that President Muhammadu Buhari will still visit the country in October.

Following renewed xenophobic attacks on Nigerians in South Africa, there were demands that Buhari cancels the visit.

However in a statement, Diko said Buhari would still visit Ramaphosa in October, adding that Ramaphosa received and held discussions with Ahmed Abubakar, the special envoy sent by Buhari to convey his concerns over the attacks.

“His Excellency President Muhammadu Buhari will undertake a State Visit to South Africa in October 2019 to reinforce the strong bonds between the two countries and jointly develop responses to challenges affecting people and businesses in South Africa and Nigeria,” Diko said.

“In the wake of public violence in South Africa and developments in Nigeria around South African businesses based in the West African country, President Cyril Ramaphosa held discussions yesterday, Friday 6 September 2019, with Ambassador Ahmed Rufai Abubakar, Special envoy of The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari.

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“The visit to Pretoria by the Special Envoy followed a recent meeting between Presidents Ramaphosa and Buhari in Yokohama, Japan, on the sidelines of the Summit of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development.

“Nigeria stands ready to assist South Africa in establishing the root causes of and developing sustainable solutions to the challenges concerned.

“President Buhari has undertaken that where challenges emerge in Nigeria, the Nigerian government will act against lawlessness and the targeting of South African assets in Nigeria.

“President Ramaphosa reaffirmed South Africa-Nigeria relations as being firm and strong and said the two partners were resolute in their shared commitment to build an Africa at peace with itself and others.”