BUA Chairman Says South Africa Denied Him Entry

Added: 2026-05-22

[00:00:00]What happens when one of Africa's richest businessmen says that he was denied entry into South Africa?

[00:00:08]>> Last year, February 2025, I was traveling to Cape Town for the mining endeavor in South Africa. We were there for 4 hours, but at the end of the day, I had to turn back. I was turned back to Lagos.

[00:00:26]But that is the controversy now spreading across social media after a Nigerian billionaire Abdul Sam Rabu the founder and chairman of the Bua group revealed that South Africa authorities allegedly refusing entry of an expired visa. But here's where the story even becomes more controversial. According to reports, Rabu suggested that Europeans in similar situations were allegedly allowed in whilst he was denied entry.

[00:00:51]But the issue is while we were waiting you know to see whether we'd be able to get access into the country without the visa there were like three international flights from Europe. All the three flights were mostly Europeans. I was standing there by the immigration desk and each and every passenger on those three flights went into Cape Town without any visa at all. And now the internet is debating that was this simply an immigration issue or does it reveal a deeper problem in how Africans are treated across the continent. My name is Filimon Quo Buhing. I'm an online journalist and this is Goku Africa Media. Watch the full video on YouTube. Now let's get into the story.

[00:01:34]>> Guys, if you've enjoyed this video so far, please do me a huge favor and hit the like button, subscribe. These videos take quite a long time to make, so if you could help me out, I'll love you forever. Thank you all for your support.

[00:01:49]Now, let's get back to this crazy story.

[00:01:53]>> Now, for those of you unfamiliar with Abdul Samad Rabu, he's not just an ordinary businessman. In fact, he is one of the richest men in Nigeria and one of the most influential industrialist in Africa. Rabu is the founder and executive chairman of Bua Group which is one of Nigeria's largest conglomerate with interest in cement, sugar, flour, real estate, port and infrastructure. In fact, his company Bua Cement is one of the biggest cement producers in Nigeria and also compete directly with Dangote Cement.

[00:02:48]I love my life.

[00:02:55]If you decided to promote yourself and leave me behind [music] [music] >> [music] >> Hallelujah.

[00:03:23][music] [music] Ice cream. [music] [music] Ice cream.

[00:03:51][music] Are >> [music] [music] [music] >> you in my mind?

[00:04:17]Over [music] [music] the years, Rabu has built his fortune through manufacturing and industrial expansion, [music] becoming one of Africa's most powerful business figures.

[00:04:38]He's frequently ranked among Nigeria's richest individuals [music] and has appealed on global billionaire rankings. But now his name is trending for a completely different reason because according to viral reports and clips circulating online which I'll be showing you very soon, Rabu claimed that [music] he was denied entry into South Africa because of an expired visa. The issue reportedly happened despite the existence of [music] visa agreement and regional business cooperation effort between African countries. Last year, February 2025, [music] I was traveling to Cape Town for the mining endeavor in South Africa.

[00:05:17]And as we landed and it was a red eye, so I left at night from Lagos to Cape Town. We arrived at 6:00 in the morning.

[00:05:24]And as we arrived, went to the immigration, attended my passport, the immigration officer looked at it and he was like, "Why is your visa?"

[00:05:36]And they said my visa is there. Unknown to me my visa had expired the day before and I was what happened. Unfortunately our crew did not check the visas to ensure that the visas were valid. We were there for 4 hours but at the end of the day I had to turn back. I was turned back to Lagos.

[00:05:59]But what even made the story explode online was the allegation that Europeans facing similar situations were allegedly treated differently. But the issue is while we were waiting, you know, to see whether we'd be able to get access into the country without the visa, there were like three international flights from Europe. All the three flights were mostly Europeans. I was standing there by the immigration desk [music] and each and every passenger on those three flights went into Captown without any visa at all. I do not have a problem with the fact that I was there without the visa and I was returned. I took full responsibility of that. I had an issue being an Africa in Africa being turned away because I do not have a visa and foreigners from other continents who are coming in our [music] allowed to enter without a visa. And that single claim immediately sparked debate across social media. Some Africans online argue that African countries often make movement difficult for fellow Africans while giving foreigners easier access and others also defended South African immigration authorities saying that immigration rules must apply equally regardless of status or nationality >> and and you know sometimes South Africa we get blamed for hostilities right so the [music] chief executive officer of Bua B UA group Abdul Samad Rabu Abdul Samad Rabu he's complaining that South Africa denied him entry [music] into the country because his visa had expired.

[00:07:51][music] I mean what do you expect South Africa to do? Your you you you are acknowledging that your visa expired whether it expired a day before or two days before a month before. You are acknowledging that your visa expired.

[00:08:09]So why then do you throw tantrums and say South Africa is not allowing into your into the country? What are you expecting South Africa to do? To say because you are a you are a Nigerian millionaire, you are rich and famous, you have to be let into the country for free. That's [music] nonsense though.

[00:08:25]and and then his argument he says that Europeans I was standing there and the Europeans were being led into the country. You don't know what the status of those Europeans are. So now you you're pushing this xenophobic anti-African nonsense simply because you forgot to renew your visa. But also the other problem for me is that how did he get this to to South Africa? Because at some point wherever he came from be it Nigeria or wherever somebody should have checked his visa. So it means somebody somewhere made sure that he gets out of wherever he he was without the proper documentation. So this man is acknowledging that he he he committed a crime. He broke the law. But then he gets to South Africa and then he's complaining that South Africa um doesn't want to let him into the country. The entitlement of people like this needs to be dealt with because now you want South Africa to look bad but then you forget that your visa expired my guy what do you want South Africa to do like I mean it's like me walking into h the airport flying to Devon simple thing like that and then I get there I had forgotten my documents you know like you need to produce your identity license or whatever and I say oh oops I don't have it and then I come back and SAA or Fly Safare did not want to let me fly, but they were letting white people go through. But at the end of the day, it's me who did not have the right documents.

[00:09:58]I find this very stupid to tell the truth. It's very stupid because now you are trying to to to create this victim mentality as if South Africa did something wrong.

[00:10:10]I don't care if you're a chief executive of whatever of Bua or whether you are president of the country or you own what your visa expired. Full stop. Go fix it and come back. Do not expect any favors.

[00:10:25]Simply if if you get away with such nonsense in Nigeria, fine. But don't come to our country and then expect to be given free pass [music] simply because of who you are. It's nonsensical. And and I hate the fact that now he goes out there, the Nigerian media is running with it, other media houses are running with it as if South Africa has done something wrong. This nonsense has to stop, man. It has to.

[00:10:49]And at this point, South African authorities have not publicly confirmed all the details being circulated online.

[00:10:55]Now, why is even this story attracting attention? [music] This story is attracting massive attention because Abdul Samad Rabul is not an ordinary traveler. He represents one of Africa's biggest business empire. So if anyone of his influence reportedly face entry issues, then many Africans are asking that what happened to ordinary African travelers every day. Now the controversy is also reopening the long running debate about visa restrictions in Africa, regional integration, border policies, and how African nations treat one another economically and diplomatically. Now this is because ironically African leaders have spent years promoting ideas like African unity after the free trade and easier movement across continent. But incidents like this make many people question whether Africa is truly becoming more united or more divided. Now the worst of it all is that this incident is happening at a period when tensions between Nigeria and South Africa are already under heavy discussions with recent updates on anti- foreigner protest, xenophobia concerns, migration and diplomatic disagreement and this have already placed both countries under under public scrutiny.

[00:12:05]So when a Nigeria billionaire now claims he was denied entry into South Africa, many people see it as a bigger conversation and supporters of Rabu believe that African [music] businesses should receive respect and smooth treatment across the continent. But others do argue that immigration officers are simply ensuring the law.

[00:12:24]Either ways, the story has now become symbolic of much larger African debate.

[00:12:29]Now what do you think of it? But for me, if you ask me, I think [music] when your visa expires, your visa has expired regardless of who you are. I mean, you shouldn't be allowed entry. It happened to me before. I was traveling to India, they didn't check because they saw my passport and thought that, oh, he traveled frequently. When I got to the entry, they saw that my visa was expiring the very day I was entering.

[00:12:53]And I was denied entry. I was returned on the on the the the next available flight. So, I don't know. But anyway, maybe he should have been considered because he's a businessman. He's a business mogul. But in any ways, what do you think? Leave your comments in the comment section. It's a wrap for today.

[00:13:09]Nigeria billionaire Abdul Samad Rabio, the second richest man in Nigeria and the third richest man on the continent of Africa was denied entry into South Africa in Cape Town when he came for a conference just last year. Abu Saman made this statement in at the Rwanda Economic Summit, you know, where various African businesses, business leaders were invited. You see, one thing I find very u tragic or I could not get my head around it is this. Why is this border situation in Africa uh not been resolved for so long? For over 60 years, for over six decades, African have closed his border to fellow African citizens. This is the second richest black man in the world. One of the biggest industrialist on the continent of Africa was not allowed into South Africa because his visa has expired. He was turned back. A man who flew with his private jet into South Africa but was turned back because the visa has expired. whereas Europeans were allowed into South Africa. You know, he said he stood at immigration and he was not allowed in and he saw Europeans coming into the country without a visa. Why he an African uh the third richest man on the continent worth about 12 billion was not allowed. I think it's very tragic.

[00:14:40]You know, situations like this tells you that Africa is cooked. You know, I don't know what we are protecting. What are we protecting from each other? You know, we have remained like this for over 65 years. You see, African leaders and African people are people who are not receptive to change, who wants the status quo to remain for one century.

[00:15:01]See, Africans are very very reluctant to change. You see the European Union, the European Union has been expanding, bringing more people into the European Union because the leaders of Europe understood clearly that >> [snorts] >> uh the success the the the the standard of living the economical power of the European Union, the political power of the European Union will be stronger if everyone becomes part of the union. The standard of living of the citizens will improve tremendously. the the interaction of European citizens, cultural interaction will improve the way of life of Europeans. That is why they've continued economic and political integration. But in Africa, nothing is happening. For over 65 years, African leaders have refused to open up the borders. I don't know what they protected. What is there to be protected rather than African leaders to open up the African economy in order for Africans to be able to travel around the continent and do businesses, cultural exchange, you know, see the continent of Africa for the betterment of African people. This will create understanding.

[00:16:15]This will create economic integration on the continent. But African leaders [clears throat] have refused to open up their border because they are protecting it from the respective Africa. I today can decide to go to South African tomorrow without needing a visa because I holding European passport. How crazy is that? That a man who has significant opportunity to invest in the South African economy or any economy on the continent of Africa was refused entry into South Africa. uh tells you a lot that the reason why Africa is called a dark continent, the reason why that continent is cooked, you know, you can see clearly that is the reason we have leaders who cannot adjust to the current realities that this continuation of borders around the African continent would not yield anything positive or benefit to the African people or the African continent. There has to be an open border system within the continent of Africa in order for a Africa to achieve full economic liberation, reduce the levels of poverty, encourage cultural exchange, reduce crisis and conflict among Africans because Africans are not traveling among themselves.

[00:17:31]There is so much perception, negative perception uh uh between African people because there's lack of travel or connectivity within Africa. Dang said it will cost him more to ship a cargo from Lagos to Ghana for him to import a cargo from Spain to Nigeria. It tells you that we have structural problem on the continent and this can only be solved when there is a union within the African continent where there's economic integration, political integration. This will definitely reduce the various bottleneck you know >> [snorts] >> uh preventing growth of the African continent. I think Abdio is absolutely uh shocked and devastated that a man of his caliber would be rejected from entering a country in Africa. Thank you.

[00:18:23]>> See and shame they catch me for him. The [laughter] chief executive officer of B group Abdul Samad Rabiu says that South Africa denied him visa. IN FACT DENIED HIM ENTRY into South Africa because his visa was expired.

[00:18:38]Yes. Can you believe that? Now, did you say that the businessman described the experience as unfair and discriminatory?

[00:18:47]Yes.

[00:18:51]But I don't know why would you enter someone's country with expired visa now?

[00:18:57]M sir sir sir.

[00:19:04]Well to me I feel this is a wake up call. H let us fix our own country Nigeria. Let us make our own country conducive for us all now. Yes. South Africans say they don't want Nigerians again. They don't want us again in their country. Yes. Honestly this is unfair.

[00:19:24]It's very very unfair. But it is what it is.

[00:19:27]We have to move on. Let us make our own country better.

[00:19:32]BUT THEN AGAIN, South Africans living in Nigeria have