Diplomatic Row: Gbajabiamila Jets Out To Accra, To Hold Talks With Ghanaian Speaker

– To Meet Leaders of Nigerian Community Too

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, left Abuja for Accra on Wednesday on a diplomatic shuttle to douse the building tension between Nigeria and its West African neighbour, Ghana.

Gbajabiamila is on a mission to hold talks with the Speaker of Parliament of Ghana, Mike Oquaye, over the alleged maltreatment of Nigerians in that country.

THE WHISTLER recalls that Ghana had shut the shops of some Nigerian traders and also imposed a $1 million levy on business owners resident in the country.

Ghana, said to be embittered by the Nigerian Government’s decision to close the country’s land borders, is reportedly hit by a drop in revenues.

It claimed Nigerians were not targeted in any government policies.

However, Nigerians resident in Ghana, particularly traders, daily complain of harassment and the introduction of measures by authorities in Accra, said to be targeted at pushing them out of the former Gold Coast.

Last week, Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, and his Ghanaian counterpart made media statements over the issue, signalling a brewing diplomatic row.

Ahead of today’s trip, Gbajabiamila had visited President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday to brief him, following which he got Buhari’s nod.

Gbajabiamila, who called his scheduled trip to Ghana, a “Legislative Diplomacy”, told State House Correspondents that he would raise the closure of the shops with his colleague in Accra.

He stated, “One of the issues we discussed today is that I am leaving for Ghana tomorrow (today, Wednesday) to meet with the Speaker of the Parliament in Ghana to look at the issue on ground, as it affects our citizens, and to try and calm things down and see if there is a way forward.

“I will meet with the speaker, I informed the President and he is aware of every single step that we are taking all the way, and we hope that we will come to an amicable settlement one way or the other.

“It is called Legislative Diplomacy. If you remember very well, during the days when I was the Leader of the House, I led a delegation to South Africa during the crisis there with Nigerians and we were able to accomplish quite a bit, to simmer things down at that time.”

However, Gbajabiamila said he would not be making any specific demands on the government while in Ghana.

“No demands, we just going to discuss in the spirit of African parliaments and we will be looking at issues from time-to-time as they affect African countries and this is one of them”, the speaker added.

Asked to give his clear position on the situation in Ghana, Gbajabiamila went diplomatic.

He replied, “I don’t want to make any statement at this time so that we don’t exacerbate matters. Like I said, we are looking for amicable solutions. The Ghanians have their take on what is going on, we have our own take. We will see how we can marry the two takes and come to a solution.

“We are two strong West African countries and there must be symbiosis, we must work together. You don’t get anything from working at cross-purposes or knocking heads together. We must, at all times, as Africans, work as best as possible together and that is what this my trip is about.”

However, THE WHISTLER gathered that the Nigerian speaker would mention to his counterpart, the fact that it would not be to the interest of either nations for them to part ways over matters that could easily be resolved.

He is also expected to meet with the leaders of the Nigerian community in Ghana in a bid to get a clearer picture of the issues fuelling tension.

“The two countries have a long history. They are two leading members of the Economic Community of West African States.

“They know the importance of upholding the ECOWAS protocols on trade.

“At some point, Ghanians too were living in Nigeria in their hundreds, eking out a living.

“I think so long as Nigerians live in Ghana within the confines of the law, there is no justification for the harassment, taken that Nigeria also has the capacity to respond”, one legislative official told THE WHISTLER on Wednesday.