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Nigerians should boycott South Africa rather than answer xenophobic attacks with violence, Air Peace chairman Allen Onyema has said. The airline boss urged citizens to apply economic pressure by withholding their money and investments from the country following fresh assaults on Nigerians there.
Speaking in a television interview, Onyema stressed that he did not want anyone taking to the streets to attack South Africans living in Nigeria. Instead, he argued, the most powerful response is to stop spending and investing in a nation he says has repeatedly turned on African migrants.
Why Onyema wants Nigerians to boycott South Africa
The Air Peace founder framed a boycott of South Africa as a peaceful but firm form of retaliation. He said Nigerians hold real leverage as consumers and investors, and that pulling back economically would send a stronger message than reprisal violence, which he warned could spiral and endanger innocent people.
Onyema’s comments come amid a wave of attacks that community leaders say have killed and displaced Nigerians and damaged their businesses. The renewed unrest has reignited a painful, years-long pattern of xenophobic violence targeting foreign nationals across parts of South Africa.
Air Peace steps in to evacuate Nigerians
Beyond his appeal, Onyema has again offered his airline as a lifeline. Air Peace agreed to evacuate hundreds of Nigerians who had been screened and cleared to leave, deploying multiple flights to bring home citizens stranded in different parts of South Africa amid the tension.
It is not the first time the carrier has run such a mission. The airline previously airlifted Nigerians during earlier waves of xenophobic violence, a gesture that earned Onyema wide praise and cemented his image as a businessman willing to step in where the state response felt slow.
A long and painful history
Xenophobic attacks in South Africa have flared repeatedly over the past decade, leaving Nigerians and other Africans dead, injured or displaced. Community leaders say scores of their compatriots have been killed in successive waves, with shops looted and homes destroyed as anger turns on migrants.
Each episode reopens old wounds and tests the bond between the two countries. Despite shared roots in the anti-apartheid struggle, the relationship has been marred by recurring violence that authorities on both sides have struggled to prevent or punish.
A diplomatic flashpoint
The attacks have strained ties between Africa’s two largest economies. Nigerian officials have spoken of weighing possible measures in response, while activists and community groups demand stronger protection for citizens abroad and clearer consequences for the governments that fail to stop the violence.
For many Nigerians, the episode revives deep frustration. South African brands operate widely across Nigeria, from telecoms to retail, and calls for a boycott tap into a sense that the relationship has too often been one-sided, with Nigerian lives and businesses paying the price.
What happens next
Whether a boycott gains traction will depend on how ordinary Nigerians and policymakers respond in the coming weeks. Onyema’s message, though, is unambiguous: hit back with wallets, not weapons, and force change through economic consequences rather than the cycle of street violence that has solved nothing before.
As evacuation flights continue, attention now turns to whether Abuja and Pretoria can ease tensions and protect Nigerians who remain in South Africa, many of whom built lives and livelihoods there over years.
