A Nigerian returnee, Ilugbadebo Oyebola, has recounted what she described as years of discrimination and mistreatment during her 11 years in South Africa, including an incident shortly after she gave birth.
According to The Cable, Oyebola spoke after the Federal Government evacuated more Nigerians from South Africa on Tuesday. She said her family’s inability to obtain legal immigration documents throughout their stay exposed them to persistent discrimination, fear and emotional hardship.
Recalling her experience in a hospital after childbirth, Oyebola alleged that a nurse’s attitude changed after discovering she could not speak the local language.
“Immediately after giving birth, I started to bleed, and one of the nurses came over. The moment she began speaking to me in one of their languages and saw that I couldn’t reply, she understood that I was a foreigner,” she said.
Oyebola claimed the nurse ordered her to clean the floor despite her condition. “I was treated as if I were not human simply because I’m not South African,” she said, describing the experience as deeply traumatic and one that reinforced her sense of rejection while living in the country.
