The Nigerian high commission in South Africa has backed Femi Fani-Kayode, its high commissioner, over his allegation of unfair treatment by the South African presidency.
Both governments have traded remarks over the incident in the past 24 hours.
Fani-Kayode claimed the South African presidency “refused” to air his speech during its livestream of ambassadors presenting their letters of credence, but the host country said it was only a “minor operational issue”.
President Cyril Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, said in an X post that Fani-Kayode misrepresented the situation and falsely referenced the president as an intervening authority in the matter.
But the Nigerian high commission rejected Magwenya’s comments on Saturday.
“Our Ambassador, H.E. Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, @realFFKwas treated with contempt and disdain and by extension so was Nigeria,” the high commission tweeted.
“H.E. President Cyril Ramaphosa, who we have the utmost respect for, did the right thing by intervening. We got the result we wanted. End of story.”
Hours after Fani-Kayode’s allegations, the South African presidency uploaded a separate video featuring his speech on its YouTube channel.
Magwenya said Ramaphosa does not intervene on operational matters at the public broadcasters, neither did he intervene on Fani-Kayode’s behalf.
The South African official doubled down his stance under the high commission’s response.
“Even when it’s institutionalized a lie remains a lie. There was no such intervention from the President or the Presidency and there will never be. Read our constitution and laws and familiarize yourself with the SABC editorial code. Stop disgracing yourself and your country,” Magwenya said.
In his later aired speech, Fani-Kayode said his job was to reset relations between Nigeria and South Africa.
