Ex-minister Tuggar condemns “Afrophobia” targeting Nigerians in South Africa
Former foreign minister Yusuf Maitama Tuggar told a Lagos event on Thursday that targeting Nigerians and other black Africans in South Africa is wrong. Kenyan scholar Prof P.L.O. Lumumba gave the keynote address.
Former foreign minister Yusuf Maitama Tuggar has condemned the targeting of Nigerians and other black Africans in South Africa. He said discrimination against fellow Africans betrays the ideals of Pan-Africanism. This Day reported his remarks, and AllAfrica republished them. Tuggar spoke on Thursday in Lagos at the 2026 end-of-year event of The Bridge Club. He chaired the event, whose theme was "Xenophobia Contradicts Pan-Africanism". Kenyan scholar and Pan-African advocate Professor P.L.O. Lumumba gave the keynote address. Tuggar said Afrophobia describes the problem better than xenophobia, because non-black Africans appear to be exempted. "Call it Afrophobia, which may be a better description than xenophobia, as non-black Africans appear to be exempted, or the more euphemistic framing of anti-migration protests, it is wrong and must be condemned," he said. He recalled Nigeria's support for victims of apartheid and for liberation movements in South Africa, Namibia and Angola. The former minister said African unity will remain incomplete without economic integration, industrial growth and free movement of people across borders. He called the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) a key tool for…
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