Following allegations by Nigeria’s High Commissioner to South Africa, Femi Fani-Kayode, that South African officials deliberately excluded his speech from the livestream of his diplomatic ceremony, the South African Presidency has released the full video of the event.

The video, published on the presidency’s official YouTube channel on Saturday, includes Mr Fani-Kayode’s address, which was absent from the initial broadcast and triggered a diplomatic disagreement between the Nigerian envoy and South African officials.

The controversy prompted a response from South African presidential spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, who accused the Nigerian envoy of misrepresenting the circumstances surrounding the incident and wrongly suggesting that President Cyril Ramaphosa had intervened in the operations of the public broadcaster.

“The president carries no legal or political mandate to interfere with its operations or intervene in its editorial processes,” Mr Magwenya said.

He described Mr Fani-Kayode’s handling of the matter as “grossly inappropriate” and urged him to establish a respectful and professional relationship with the broadcaster.

In the full video released by the presidency, Mr Fani-Kayode is seen pledging to strengthen diplomatic and economic relations between Nigeria and South Africa.

He described his diplomatic assignment as an opportunity to rebuild relations between the two countries, recalling Nigeria’s support for South Africa during the struggle against apartheid.