“They killed my husband” – Woman laments upon return from South Africa

A Nigerian woman, Emilia Godwin, has recounted the traumatic killing of her husband in South Africa and vowed never to return to the country.

Godwin, who was among the Nigerians repatriated from South Africa amid rising xenophobic attacks, spoke to journalists upon her arrival at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos.

“I am now in my country and I have my mouth to speak,” she said. “They [South Africans] are wicked; they don’t like us. If you enter a taxi, they mock you, pull you, and beat you.”

Godwin described the dehumanising treatment Nigerians face in South Africa, saying foreigners — particularly Nigerians — are often regarded as slaves with no voice.

“We were just like slaves there. We didn’t have a mouth to talk,” she added. “I will never go back to South Africa. Even my child, who was born there, will never return.”

She expressed gratitude to the Nigerian government for facilitating their repatriation.

Godwin said she had been seeking an opportunity to leave South Africa since 2014, when she first arrived. She began noticing troubling signs three years later but could not return until now.

She also levelled grave accusations against some South African women, claiming they target Nigerian men.

“They are wicked. They don’t care if you are married. They want to have a child with a Nigerian man, then kill him and take his property — the same way they killed my husband,” she alleged.