To many Nigerians, it is no longer news that the average Ghanaian is highly suspicious of Nigerians living in their country, creating stereotypes of criminals. For instance, a Nigerian official at the High Commission, some years back, recounted an embarrassing encounter with a senior Ghanaian Prison official. He said he received a note from a Nigerian, who claimed he had been in detention for a while and had been denied access to his friends. He decided to pay the detainee a consular visit. The official reportedly went to a senior officer at the Prison, who denied him access to the inmate. He was told to his face that he was an imposter. “You Nigerians are crooks. You can steal an ID card and a diplomatic car and pose as a diplomat,” the Ghanaian official blankly told him. Another instance was the case of a Nigerian student, who was bathed with acid by her Ghanaian hostess, because she refused to join her drug cartel. The acid victim later died in Nigeria from the wounds she sustained. She had told her neighbours that it was her hostess that viciously attacked her. Another incident that happened at the 37 Hospital at Accra corroborated her story. A nurse said she overhead the Ghanaian lady and a guy threatening to finish her up. A member of the All Nigerian Community went to a highly placed police officer with the facts. The man jettisoned the victim’s dying declaration, saying that “All Nigerian were criminals and he won’t believe the story.” The above narratives are two of several incidents, depicting discrimination Nigerians undergo, even at the hands of Ghanaian officials. The Ghana Police has also given credence to the damning assumption that Nigerians in the country are criminals. At least one or two Nigerian accomplices are usually named in violent crimes, especially internet fraud and armed robbery, according to the Accra Regional Police Command. With the spate of kidnappings sweeping across Ghana and the involvement of Nigerians in some of the incidents, the attack on Nigerians has reached an alarming crescendo. Not a day passes without the Ghanaian media and public commentators demonizing their guests, with several calling for their mass expulsion from the country. To some extent, the public display of rage against Nigerians is not entirely unfounded. Among the eight suspects arrested in connection with the kidnapping of two Canadian aid workers, Lauren Patricia Catherine Tilley, 19 and Bailey Jordan Chitly, 20 at Kumasi. Three of the suspects were Nigerians and five Ghanaians. Regarding the kidnapping of three girls in Takoradi, one Samuel Udoetuk Wills and an unnamed Ghanaian middle-aged lady were named as culprits. Sometime in April, the Consular-General and Head of Mission of Estonia to Ghana was abducted at dawn during a walk around his Labone residence. He was held hostage in an apartment at NTHC Estate, Vivian Farms in Lashibi, in Accra. Three persons involved in the crime, who are now at large, are believed to be Nigerians. Nonetheless, there have been several other kidnapping cases that Nigerians were not involved in, as well as armed robberies and murders. Yet the Ghanaian public space continues to be inundated with comments about Nigerians being the perpetrators of criminal activities in the country. It was against the backdrop of the serious bashing of Nigerians by the Ghanaian media that the Nigerian High Commissioner to Ghana, Ambassador Michael Olufemi Abikoye, last week, issued a statement, entreating the media to be circumspect in their comments, in order not to jeopardize the cordial relationship between the two countries. Abikoye, in the statement, had queried the objectivity of media reports in respect of most crimes jointly executed by Ghanaians and Nigerians. Citing the case of the two kidnapped Canadian ladies, the Nigerian envoy wondered why only the Nigerian suspects were referred to as the perpetrators, while the Ghanaian suspects were said to be accomplices. “Suffice to say that at times like this, a situation where five (5) Ghanaians in the company of three (3) Nigerians allegedly kidnapped two (2) Canadians but seems to enjoy press coverage as a crime committed by the Nigerians and considers Ghanaians only as accomplices leaves much to be desired on the objectivity of such report. “Moreover, such media trials could be seen as prejudicial to the outcome of the ongoing prosecution in court which sees them as innocent until proven guilty. On this note, the Nigeria High Commission wishes to reiterate its stand that whoever commits a crime and is found guilty must face the consequences of his/her action. For its part, the High Commission will continue to mobilize all Nigerians living in Ghana to obey the domestic laws. The High Commission is also in touch with relevant host authorities with a view to amicably resolve the issue,” the statement said. The Ghanaian Parliament lent its voice to the appeal as he called on all Ghanaians and the media to desist from making commentaries on the kidnappings. Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Parliament, Hon. Frank Annor-Dompreh made the appeal shortly after Ambassador Abikoye issued the press release. “We are treading cautiously. Unfortunately, recent pronouncements in the media are not the best and we as a committee that has oversight when it comes to overarching concerns over foreign relations. We want to appeal particularly to the good people of this country – the youth, and the media. We should all be measured in terms of our pronouncements. Let us respect the police, let us not precede prejudging the case that is reported in the media,” Annor-Dompreh had admonished. The dust raised by the High Commissioner’s statement barely settled, when trouble reared its head again. It came in the form of a leaked video recording involving Prof. Austin Nwagbara, a Professor of English Language, on sabbatical leave in the Department of Applied Linguistics at the University of Education, Winneba, Central Region of Ghana. He, at a closed-door meeting with some leaders and members of the All Nigerian Community in Ghana bared his mind on the travails of his compatriots, urging the leaders to do something urgently. Someone secretly recorded and leaked the video on social media. The outspoken professor in the video, made some comments about the standard of university education in Ghana, which apparently did not go do well with the hosts. All hell was let loose. The Ghana Police arrested him and later released him on bail, with further instruction to report daily to the station. Then the University of Education, Winneba, hurriedly conducted an in-house inquiry and dismissed the lecturer, less than 48 hours after he was arrested. The university don had lamented the huge money Nigerians paid for acquiring university education in Ghana, even though, according to him, it was below the standard obtainable in Nigeria. “No Ghanaian degree is 20 % up to the quality of a Nigerian degree. All our federal universities are better than any university here. What makes a university? It’s not the buildings, it’s not the trees: It’s the quality of staff that will recycle and produce others. They don’t have it,” he declared. Reacting to the persistent vilification of Nigerians in the Ghanaian media, because of the involvement of some of their nationals in recent kidnapping incidents, Nwagbara advised Nigerians to step up media campaigns to improve their image. “I have been a media person; you cannot be here and be suffering. Let the leaders get our media persons to come here to cover what has been happening. Go to the student community, go to everywhere, go to the embassy. Go and confront the officials with the information, air it within one week. I am sorry to say it, but this is within us, the present government in Ghana came on the grounds of Nigeria-bashing,” he said. Since the comments began circulating on social media, Prof. Nwagbara became a target of sorts. His employer, outraged by his comments, swiftly conducted an internal disciplinary process and he was found guilty of gross misconduct and promptly dismissed. The Registrar of the University of Education, Winneba, in a statement had said: “In the said video, Professor Nwagbara makes several unsavory, unethical and damning comments about our country, its history, as well as our educational system. The university disassociates itself from the grossly irresponsible comments and condemns it in no uncertain terms.” The statement added: “The university wishes to indicate that it has in the past hosted several scholars on sabbatical leave from various countries, including Nigeria and same have conducted themselves with high degree of decorum and professionalism during their stay. Professor Nwagbara’s behaviour is totally deviant, an aberration that runs contrary to those of his predecessors.” Media Personality, Afia Schwarzenegger, in defense of the actions of Ghanaians, insisted that it was the misconduct of Nigerians that triggered the recent media frenzy against them. Listing a number of vicious crimes linked to Nigerians, the media personality urged Nigerian leaders in Ghana to expose the criminal elements among them. “We Ghanaians will not entertain any form of [expletive] from any foreigner again. You will go to jail, and [as for] the landlords harbouring criminals, we will let the police arrest you too. Enough is Enough,” she warned. During an interview with Our correspondent with the Ghanaian High Commissioner to Nigeria, H.E Rashid Bawa, who blamed the media for escalating situations. He is of the opinion that just as the governments of both countries have an excellent relationship, so do their citizens. “The media just baits people with screaming headlines, and make situations worse than they are,” he said.
