Nigeria To Retaliate South Africa Over ‘Frozen’ Arms Deal

This issue of seized arms cash has been lingering for weeks now and Nigerian government is no longer taking it light with South Africa. Yesterday, Wednesday Nigeria accused South Africa of blocking a legal arms purchase and threatened retaliation against major South African companies, including telecom giant MTN, if the spat is not resolved. This I think will be a very heavy punch on the company.

A top official in the office of Nigeria’s National Security Advisor (NSA) told AFP that the country had an agreement to buy $5.7 million (4.5 million euros) worth of military hardware in a deal brokered by a South African firm. An NSA official who prefers to remains anonymous said “The issue could affect bilateral relations between Nigeria and South Africa,”.

He specifically mentioned MTN — a South Africa-based mobile phone and Internet provider with tens of millions of subscribers in Nigeria — as a company that could be targeted in tit-for-tat reprisals.
“You cannot be making so much money from Nigeria and then turn around and embarrass the people,” the Nigerian official said.