Nigerians protest at MTN, MultiChoice, Shoprite offices, outlets

Hundreds of Nigerian protesters on
Monday stormed the offices of
South African companies in Abuja
and Benin City, Edo State, to protest
the ongoing xenophobic attacks on
foreigners, especially Nigerians, in
South Africa.
In Abuja, the protesters, led by
media personality and President of
the Berekete Family, Ahmad Isah,
marched to the regional
headquarters of MTN Nigeria
Communications Limited in
Maitama, as well as Shoprite and
Multichoice, owners of DSTV.
At MTN, the protesters, who carried
placards with various inscriptions
condemning the attacks on
Nigerians and their businesses in
South Africa, were joined by
Nigerians in the area where the
office is located.
One of our correspondents learnt
that a senior official of MTN whose
identity was not known, addressed
the crowd of protesters who wore
yellow T-shirts, the traditional
colour of the South African
telecommunications company.
The official reportedly told the
protesters that the company was
not in support of the attacks on
Nigerians and other Africans in
South Africa.
He also told them that the MTN
operation in the country was MTN
Nigeria and that the company only
has a few South Africans working in
the country.
When our correspondent visited
the Maitama office of the company,
policemen in a patrol vehicle were
seen stationed just across the
telecommunication firm’s office to
forestall possible breakdown of the
peace.
In Benin City, some youth
protesters stormed the MTN office
on 3rd East Circular Road, Muritala
Muhammed Way.
The youths, under the aegis of The
Flagship, threatened to shut down
South African firms operating in
Nigeria over the attack on
Nigerians in South Africa.
The protesters carried placards
with various inscriptions.
The messages in the placards
include, “Xenophobia is inhuman,”
“Zuma call your boys to order” and
“S/Africans can’t be making money
from us, killing us.”
Spokesperson for the group, Austin
Enabulele, described the attacks as
inhuman and condemnable,
explaining that the protest was a
warning to the South African
government to put a stop to the
attacks on Nigerians or risk losing
its investments in the country.
Enabulele said, “We are all Africans;
we wonder why they should attack
our fellow Nigerians who are doing
their legitimate businesses in
South Africa, when we have shown
them love to operate in Nigeria.
“We have come here to say to
(President Jacob) Zuma to call his
people to order because if he fails
to call them to order we will do the
needful. We are aware of all their
businesses in Nigeria; we know of
MTN, we know of Shoprite, we
know of Multichoice company, and
we know of all the other companies
that belong to South Africa.
“We will shut down all their
services, if they continue the killing
of our brothers and sisters. So, we
have come here to tell them to put
an end to the killing of our brothers
and sisters who are doing their
legitimate jobs in South Africa.”
The vice president of the group,
Gloria Noren, decried what she
described as the ingratitude of
South Africans, whom she said
received financial support from
Nigeria during the apartheid era.
Noren urged the Federal
Government to commence the
immediate evacuation of Nigerians
from South Africa, in order to
forestall further havoc.
She said, “We have videos of
Nigerians that have been killed; I
personally watched the video. How
can someone come out to say that
we are taking their jobs from them?
What about the money they are
making from us?
“Nigeria spent over N60bn fighting
apartheid for them. Why should we
extend love to them and they
extend hatred to us. It is totally
inhuman, distasteful and
disgusting.
“We are sending this message to
our Nigerian government to go
ahead and evacuate all Nigerians
from South Africa because we
cannot continue to lose our
brethren.”
The Nigerian Consul-General in
South Africa, Amb. Uche Ajulu-
Okeke, had on Sunday said that
Nigerians had lost more than N21m
to the attacks in South Africa.
Ajulu-Okeke said the loss included
looted shops, burnt shops, two
burnt mechanic workshops, 11
burnt cars and two stolen cars,
among others.
“Nigerians have compiled the cost
of the damage to their property
and it is totalling about 1.2m Rand
or N21m, which will be sent to the
Federal Government for further
action,” the ambassador had said.
She said that two of the three
Nigerians who were wounded
during the attacks in Durban had
been treated and discharged from
the hospital.
The consul-general said that she
would go back to Durban to assess
the situation on ground and meet
with the provincial authority on the
security of Nigerians in the
province.

first of all let as advice our brothers and sisters to come back home in peace

then we can also stop all there business in Africa
now they are killing and we need our life very much

first thing is to save our life's

You are right bro, but let think deep before stoping those companies because if we take a look to those companies we will see that 95% of the workers there are Nigerians. So the best thing is for our people to come back home to avoid been killed.

This is not funny @ all

no be mtn and multichoice offend them o

We can all support the protest by not recharging for sometimes

Yeah, I second ooo