Repatriation flight carrying 269 Nigerians fleeing South Africa arrives in Lagos

Nigeria's latest repatriation flight arrived in Lagos on Tuesday, carrying 269 nationals fleeing South Africa. 

Anti-immigrant groups in the country had issued a June 30 deadline for all undocumented foreigners to quit the territory. 

“I've been in South Africa since 2017, and the threat there is too much," Emmanuela Kagusu said on arriving in Lagos. "Like, every time killing, threats, you know, that we need to leave, Hamba, Hamba, all the time. "Hamba" means "leave." If you don't leave, they're going to kill us. So, we are not safe, so we have to just leave.”

South Africa has seen a wave of anti-immigrant protests and violence in recent weeks that's left at least four people dead. 

But it's not the first time foreigners have been targeted, says Sandy Orace, another repatriated Nigerian.

“Nine years ago, if I'm not mistaken, my first shop, the South African citizens, they came and break my shop and took all my goods; they left me with nothing. Then I suffered for many years to start over again. Then when I start, when I succeeded about five years ago, they later came back and broke my house, stole all my properties; they were even trying to kill me. Then I have to run away and relocate somewhere else.”

The citizen-led anti-migrant groups blame undocumented migrants for rising unemployment, crime and increased pressure on public services. 

“It's happening in another country, which is beyond our own reach," says Ambassador Haruna Ali-Gombe, Director of African Affairs at Nigeria's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

"But what we can do as a government is to interface with the South African government to express our displeasure and to express our concerns about the welfare of our citizens. And that we have been doing from day one.”

This is the third group of Nigerians returning to this month. 

More than 600 Nigerians have brought home out of the more than a thousand who have registered for the voluntary repatriation. More flights are expected in coming days.

The returnees will undergo documentation, profiling and medical screening before receiving temporary accommodation and other assistance. 

South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa has has rejected the so-called deadline, saying only authorities can enforce immigration laws.