Despite public outrage in Nigeria, Ghana Immigration (GI) officials have intensified their raid of neighbourhoods with high concentration of Nigerians in the hope of weeding out persons without residence permit and repatriating same to Nigeria.
No fewer than 723 Nigerians had been deported from Ghana since January 2018 to date in a renewed immigration clampdown mainly targeted at Nigerians.
Though GI officials could not confirm it but insiders said the government of Ghana is miffed at the increasing incidences of advance fee fraud and allied wire crimes being perpetrated by persons traced to Nigerian nationality.
Investigations by Political Economist reporter who was in Ghana recently suggest a linkage with trending Yahoo Plus crime in Ghana to some Nigerians.
Antwi Kwadoah, a trader in Kasoa area in the Central Region told our reporter that slangs like Yahoo-Yahoo or Yahoo Plus have gained popularity in the last two years and it suggests a magical way of making money. “It is strange and rather unbelievable but it is true. Most of the persons allegedly involved in this crime flaunt uncommon wealth and they are mostly Nigerians. Some other African nationals including Ghanaians have joined them”, he said.
Recently, a video circulated on social media showing some Nigerian nationals believed to be residing in Kasoa in the Central Region, attacking some Ghana Immigration (GI) officers in their vehicle.
The immigration officers were in a pick-up vehicle with registration number GI 220.
The attackers are heard shouting “wetin, nobody dey move. Here na border.”
Daily graphic of Ghana reports that some of the attackers are seen putting pieces of blocks and wooden objects to block the Immigration vehicle from leaving the scene.
The Immigration officers are said to have gone to check on the residence permit of the Nigerians.
The Immigration officers looked on helplessly in the video as they struggled to move their vehicle impeded by several objects placed in front of them by the Nigerian nationals.
The Spokesperson of the Ghana Immigration Service, Superintendent Michael Amoako-Atta who confirmed the incident to Graphic Online said “they (the officers) were going on normal operation to check on foreign nationals who don’t have legal stay and they met these Nigerians who were trying to resist.”
Meanwhile, Abike Dabiri-Erewa Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, has described the reported mass arrests and deportations of Nigerians from Ghana as worrisome.
Dabiri-Erewa made this known in a statement by her media aide, Abdul-Rahman Balogun, on Thursday in Abuja.
She said that the information on the renewed harassment, arrest and deportation of hundreds of Nigerians from Ghana was disturbing.
She, however, assured that the Nigerian High Commissioner 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,” she said.
