Nigeria demands justice after three citizens die in South Africa in four days

Updated 18:02 WAT, 1 Oct 2026: Nigeria’s Foreign Ministry has condemned the deaths and says it is considering further measures, and Nigeria’s envoy says 12 Nigerians have been killed in South Africa this year. This story has also been corrected.

Nigeria has demanded justice for three citizens who died in separate incidents between 18 and 21 September, with its Johannesburg consulate warning of an apparent pattern of attacks on Nigerians in South Africa.

The statement, issued on Monday evening by Consul-General Ninikanwa Okey-Uche, reopens a wound that has festered all year. More than 1,800 Nigerians have been evacuated from South Africa since June, according to the Foreign Ministry.

The consulate also links one of the deaths to the crew of a South African politician’s TV show, raising the diplomatic stakes days before Nigeria marks 66 years of independence.

Who were the three Nigerians who died?

Kenechukwu Christopher Igwemmadu died on 18 September in Bloemfontein’s central business district. The consulate said he allegedly jumped from a building on Douglas Street while trying to escape police harassment.

Olaniyi Olaleye Olatunde, a security guard, was shot at a nightclub in Mamelodi East, Pretoria, on 20 September. According to the consulate, an unidentified South African customer opened fire after an argument over a cup. Olatunde died in hospital the next day.

Christian Hillary Nnaemeka died on 21 September in Primrose, Ekurhuleni. The consulate alleges he was assaulted and tortured by Xolani Khumalo and members of his Sizok’thola team, then collapsed while trying to escape and was declared dead in hospital. Sahara Reporters, citing the Nigerian Union in South Africa, said he was 34 and from Enugu-Ezike in Enugu State.

What did the Nigerian consulate say?

Okey-Uche said the deaths, coming in quick succession, raised questions about “a pattern of targeting Nigerians in South Africa”, according to TheCable and Nigeria Info.

The consulate asked South African authorities to establish how each person died and to make sure anyone found responsible faces the law. It also stressed due process, insisting that suspects must be presumed innocent and tried in court. “Nigerian and all lives matter,” the consul-general added, as quoted by The Whistler and the Eagle Online.

Nigerians living in South Africa were urged to stay calm, law-abiding and security-conscious.

What has the Federal Government said?

Abuja has since taken up the cases. In a statement on Wednesday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Oluwafemi Adeniyi, said: “The Federal Government of Nigeria condemns these incidents and is deeply concerned by their occurrence at a time when Nigerians and other Africans continue to face challenges associated with Xenophobia and Afrophobia in parts of South Africa,” according to the Nigerian Tribune and TVC News.

The ministry called for “thorough, transparent and expeditious” investigations and said those responsible should be brought to justice under South African law. It said Nigeria was considering “further appropriate measures”, while TVC News quoted the statement as describing constructive dialogue as Nigeria’s preferred way of settling disputes between the two countries.

Femi Fani-Kayode, Nigeria’s ambassador-designate to South Africa, said on Tuesday that the three deaths took the number of Nigerians killed in South Africa to 12 this year and 112 since 2022, the Associated Press and Premium Times reported. According to Premium Times, he said 32 of those were allegedly killed by South African security forces and that no one had been convicted in any of the cases.

Who is Xolani Khumalo?

Khumalo fronts Sizok’thola, a Moja Love television programme in which he confronts alleged drug dealers. South Africa’s IOL described him in February as ActionSA’s mayoral candidate for Ekurhuleni.

It is not the first time his crew has been linked to a Nigerian’s death. On 9 February, Emeka Clement Uzor was shot during Sizok’thola filming in Windsor East, Randburg. Police said at the time that the production’s security team, not officers, fired the shots, and opened a murder case. The consulate says no arrests have been made.

Khumalo’s response to the latest allegation had not been reported at the time of writing.

How bad has xenophobia against Nigerians in South Africa been in 2026?

Anti-migrant groups, including Operation Dudula and Put South Africa First, have led attacks on foreigners since April, and anti-migrant militants set a 30 June deadline for immigrants to leave, Blueprint reported in May. Nigeria’s foreign ministry summoned South Africa’s acting high commissioner on 4 May.

In July, the consulate said the death of Ibeh Chika Simon during a police operation in Cape Town was the fifth officially reported death of a Nigerian in South Africa this year, TheCable reported. By Nigeria’s count, the toll has now reached 12.

The exodus continues too. A batch of 105 returnees, 82 adults and 23 children, landed in Lagos on 24 September, with most tickets paid for by the Redeemed Christian Church of God, according to Premium Times. It was the 13th evacuation since the flights began on 10 June, taking the total to 1,821, the Foreign Ministry spokesperson said, according to Voice of Nigeria.

What happens next

The ball is in South Africa’s court. Nigeria wants police to establish the circumstances of all three deaths and bring charges where the evidence supports them. No arrests had been reported by Thursday, and the Foreign Ministry has not said what further measures it has in mind.

President Bola Tinubu’s Independence Day broadcast on Thursday did not mention South Africa or Nigerians abroad, according to the full text published by Channels TV. Read more on our Nigeria at 66 live page.

In South Africa, hundreds of anti-migrant protesters marched in Durban on Wednesday, the date of an unofficial deadline they had set for undocumented foreigners to leave, the AP and AFP reported. Police reported no violence against foreigners during the march, according to the AP.

The RCCG donation covers one-way tickets for 500 people, so further evacuation flights are possible.

Three families are grieving, and a fourth is still waiting for answers from February. Nigeria’s message to Pretoria is now blunt: investigate, charge and try.