The Traffic

🇳🇬🇬🇭 Nigeria-Ghana Row: Calm Amid Storm as Ministers Tackle Deportation Rumors

In a diplomatic dance that blended urgency with reassurance, Nigeria’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Amb. Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, touched down in Accra not with clenched fists but an olive branch—dispatched by President Bola Tinubu himself to douse a growing flame of anti-Nigerian sentiment.

The cause? Viral videos showing heated protests in Ghana, complete with alarming calls for Nigerians to be shown the exit door. But on arrival, reality sang a calmer tune.

“We are here on a fact-finding mission,” Odumegwu-Ojukwu told press at a joint briefing with Ghana’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Samuel Ablakwa. “And what we’ve found is a far cry from what the videos suggest—no burning tyres, no mass demonstrations.”

Still, she didn’t downplay the public concern back home, affirming that the imagery had caused unease across Nigeria. Her mission? Clear the fog, calm the waters, and renew cross-border trust. She stressed the importance of the long-standing Nigeria-Ghana relationship, warning that social media sensationalism must not be allowed to poison the well of neighborly bonds.

In response, Minister Ablakwa echoed the sentiment of peace. “Ghana is home to all law-abiding residents,” he affirmed. “There will be no witch-hunt. We’re engaging both our citizens and the Nigerian community to find lasting calm.”

Ablakwa also addressed the elephant in the room: the so-called Nigerian ‘kingdom’ plot—a tale that he says, upon investigation, lacks any real territorial intent. “Let’s not allow history to repeat itself,” he cautioned, recalling past diplomatic rifts like Nigeria’s “Ghana Must Go” saga of 1983 and Ghana’s Aliens Repatriation Order.

Both nations have been here before. But this time, the message is different: dialogue, not deportation.

Odumegwu-Ojukwu capped it off by calling for the revitalization of the Nigeria-Ghana Joint Commission—an effort to institutionalize harmony and head off future flare-ups through proactive, people-driven diplomacy.

Bottom line: The tension may have gone viral, but the response was all about real-world restraint—and rebuilding trust, one conversation at a time.

By Haruna Yakubu Haruna