Nigeria Democratic Congress presidential aspirant Peter Obi has described a deeply troubling picture of Nigerians living under threat in South Africa, revealing that when his delegation offered to facilitate the return of distressed Nigerians from the country, most refused, saying conditions in Nigeria were worse than the xenophobic hostility they were already enduring.

Obi, the former governor of Anambra State, disclosed this at a dinner organized for NDC aspirants in Abuja shortly after returning from South Africa, where he had attended an international governance forum and held discussions with three South African ministers about improving relations between South Africans and African nationals living in the country. He also met with former South African President Thabo Mbeki as part of his efforts to address the recurring tensions.

He said he told Nigerians he met in South Africa that if things worked properly at home, most of them would not be there. Their response, he said, was to reject the offer of return outright, with many saying they would rather die in South Africa than come back to Nigeria.

He criticized what he described as the federal government’s absence from communities of Nigerians facing hardship abroad, saying he had asked leaders in several countries whether Nigerian government representatives had visited their compatriots in distress, and that the answer was consistently no.

Senator Seriake Dickson, NDC National Leader, separately explained why the party did not use electronic voting in its primaries as originally planned, saying the platform was ready but required further testing to avoid technical problems. He said all future NDC primaries would use mobile phone voting.

Buba Galadima, former Secretary of the Board of Trustees of the New Nigeria People’s Party and now a senior NDC figure, urged aspirants who did not secure tickets to remain loyal to the party.