Godsent Ogbebor
Nigeria Faults U.S. Deportation of Citizens to Ghana
The Federal Government has expressed displeasure over the deportation of 13 Nigerians to Ghana by the United States without prior consultation.
The deportees, who were flown on a U.S. military cargo plane alongside one Gambian, were handed over to Ghanaian authorities despite having no link with the country.
Ghana’s Foreign Minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, said his country accepted the deportees strictly on humanitarian grounds, stressing that Accra rejected any financial compensation. According to him, Ghana acted in the spirit of Pan-African solidarity after other West African countries turned down the request.
Read also: Deported Nigerians Find Temporary Haven in Ghana
Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, however, distanced Abuja from the arrangement. Ministry spokesperson, Kimiebi Imomotimi Ebienfa, said Nigeria was open to receiving its citizens directly but would not accept deportees being sent first to another country.
While Ghanaian officials claimed the Nigerians had since returned home by bus, lawyers representing some of the deportees told the Associated Press that four of them were still being held in Ghana. Government officials in Accra denied the allegation, insisting no one was being detained.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Mission in Nigeria restated that visa application fees remain non-refundable and non-transferable. In a statement on its official X handle, the mission noted that while the concerns of Nigerians were understood, the fees covered processing costs regardless of the outcome.
