Nigeria warns Ghana to stop attacking its citizens

General News of Sunday, July 21st, 2019

Source: yen.com.gh

2019-07-21

The Nigerian government warned that ill-treatment would be inflicted on its Ghanaian citizens.

Ms. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Chair of the Nigerian Commission in the Diaspora, said Nigerians in other African states deserve to be respected.

She warned that the continent would suffer if Nigeria also decided to treat other nationals in the same way.

She also lamented the generalization of criminal matters when it comes to Nigerian nationals.

"If a Nigerian commits a crime, you should take care of that person rather than generalize the problems by punishing the innocent of the crime," said Dabiri-Erewa.

According to her, 994 Nigerians have been expelled from Ghana by the land border in the last 18 months. She made this revelation by meeting a Nigerian professor, Augustine Nwagbara, recently sacked by the University of Winneba Education, for inciting other Nigerian nationals. Ghanaians and Nigerians have coexisted peacefully for most of the past three decades, but this understanding seems to be under threat.

In June, Ghanaians forced the closure of stores run by Nigerian merchants at Suame Magazine.

This follows a series of crimes and kidnappings in which the suspects were identified as Nigerians.

The most important case remains the abduction of three teenage girls in Takoradi in November 2018.

The three men still have to be found, although the main suspect, identified as a Nigerian national, Samuel Wilson Udoetuk, was apprehended by the police.

In another case, police arrested six suspects in connection with the kidnapping of two Canadian girls in Kumasi.

Although the girls have since been rescued, three of the suspects – Sampson Aghalor Romeo, Elvis Ojiyorwe and Jeff Omarsar – have been identified as Nigerians.

There were also five Nigerian nationals arrested in Tema for allegedly raping a woman in the presence of her husband.

The above and other events involving Nigerians have led to a series of clashes between citizens of both countries.

However, calm has recently been restored.