Deportation Of Nigerians From Ghana Worrisome- Dabiri-Erewa
Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora has described the reported mass arrest and deportations of Nigerians from Ghana as worrisome
In a statement by her Media aide, Abdur-Rahman Balogun, Dabiri-Erewa said the information on the renewed harrasment, arrest and deportation of hundreds of Nigerians from Ghana is disturbing.
She, however, assured that the Nigerian High Commisioner to Ghana, Amb. Olufemi Abikoye was on top of the situation and was engaging with relevant authorities in Ghana.
“ While any Nigerian who commits a crime will have to face the wrath of the law, the situation of any Nigerian being inhumanly and unjustly treated , will not be acceptable”, Dabiri-Erewa said.
She recalled the intervention of President Muhammadu Buhari in 2018 when shops of Nigeria traders were locked in Ghana, thus forcing some of them to come back home.
She said the issue was amicably resolved between the two Presidents in the spirit of brotherhood.
Dabiri-Erewa, therefore, appealed to Nigerians living in Ghana to be good ambassadors of the country by abiding by the rules and regulations in that country.
She equally appealed to the Ghanaian authorities to be brotherly in their approach to Nigerians living in Ghana by reciprocrating Nigeria kind gestures to Ghanaians in Nigeria.
It will be recalled that the Nigerian High Commissioner to Ghana, Amb. Abikoye had said during a meeting with the Comptroller-General of the Ghana Immigration Service, Kwame Asuah Takyi, in Accra that 723 Nigerians have been deported from Ghana since January 2018 to date.
He noted during the meeting that though the GIS had linked prostitution and cybercrime as some of the reasons for the deportation, he, however, posited that it was “improper” to deport Nigerians for alleged illegal stay in Ghana.
The Nigerian Envoy had observed that there were several Ghanaians living in Nigeria but the Nigeria Immigration Service has never deported any of them back because of brotherliness between the two countries.
He reminded Ghana on the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Protocol on free movement of persons to migrate to the respective member nations without necessary valid documents.
The Nigerian Envoy brought to the attention of Takyi several cases of molestation, harassment and torture of Nigerians by the GIS officials, especially those awaiting deportation at the GIS detention facility.
The High Commissioner told the Ghana Immigration boss that the inhuman act was against the United Nations Convention against torture, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
Therefore, he implored Takyi to prevail on his officials to treat Nigerians and other ECOWAS nationals with human face, caution and not as common criminals.
However, the Ghanaian Immigration boss said the Service was being compelled to carry out the deportation because of the conduct of some Nigerian nationals in Ghana.
According to him, besides engaging in cybercrime and prostitution, some Nigerians have become “law” themselves.
He said they do road blockages in major Ghanaian streets where they drink, fight and stab each other, stressing that the “unruly” behaviour contravenes the local laws in Ghana.
