S’African Royal Council, Minister Slam ‘Nigerian King’ Coronation

The AbaThembu Royal Council has labelled the coronation of a ‘Nigerian king’ in the Eastern Cape as an act of terror and announced plans to write to the Nigerian Consulate in South Africa on the matter.

According to SABC News on Sunday, the Royal House of AbaThembu denied reports that King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo welcomed and granted royalty to the Nigerian national.

The Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Velenkosini Hlabisa, also slammed the coronation of a Nigerian king in South Africa.

This comes after videos circulated on social media last week showing the coronation ceremony of the ‘Igwe Ndigbo Na East London.’

On the development, AbaThembu senior royal advisor, Matthew Mpahlwa, said, “It’s a simple act of terror. The Eastern Cape is not an annexure or a colony of Nigeria. There is no purpose for anyone to start spreading misinformation that we welcome and will give a Nigerian national royalty in the Eastern Cape who has no connection to the land that he occupies.

“So, it’s a simple act of terror, and we treat it as such, and we are saying the government must act on it. In fact, later today we will be making a call to the Consul General of Nigeria to come and explain this.”

SABC quoted Hlabisa as saying, “What is being shown on social media, we regard it as just the Sunday school playing of kids who do not know what they are actually doing, except playing.

“South Africa has enough kings who are the beings who are custodians of our culture. A person belonging to Nigeria must go back to Nigeria and be a custodian in Nigeria because it’s an insult to come into another country, it’s an undermining of the sovereignty of the Republic of South Africa.”