He said, “I’m told there are 83 Nigerians in prison. I don’t know what they have done but I spoke to the President of South Africa this afternoon. He wants to come to Nigeria.

“There are issues he knows and wants to talk about. I will certainly talk to him. I hope our ambassador will send a comprehensive report about the court cases, about those who lost properties during the disturbances. And at that time I will attempt to ask him about our $9.7 million which was not correctly transferred.”

He recalled the big brother role played by Nigeria to save South Africa from apartheid, saying Nigeria was responsible for financing the destruction of apartheid in that country.

He said, “You all know how they came to where they are. For how long was South Africa under apartheid when black South Africans were reduced to virtually nothing? And the Murtala/Obasanjo regime was classified as frontline states. Only God knows how much of Nigeria’s money was sent to these people to support them.

“And you know of Namibia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Angola; it is in the history of Africa and the world that Nigeria was responsible for virtually financing the destruction of apartheid in Southern Africa.”

The Nigerian president enjoined his countrymen to live right in their place of sojourn

He said: “I refused to speak from this draft speech because I wanted to speak to you from the bottom of my heart. Please keep Nigeria’s pride close to your heart, make sure you behave yourselves. If you find yourselves here, obey their laws. When you don’t obey their laws you will have to bear the consequences”.

Earlier, the Consul-General of Nigeria in South Africa, Ambassador Uche Ajulu-Okeke, had told President Buhari that a total of 143 Nigerians were killed in South Africa between 2011 and 2014, while another 81 were languishing in Johannesburg prison.

“Out of these 81 Nigerians, 21 have been convicted,” she said, adding that shops and other property worth millions of Rands belonging to Nigerians were destroyed during the recent xenophobic attacks.

The president of Nigerian Union in South Africa, Mr Ikechukwu Anyene, congratulated President Buhari on his election and inauguration, and urged him to facilitate compensation for Nigerians affected by the xenophobic attacks in the country.

-Leadership NGR