NIDO condemns Ghanaian presenter for calling Nigerians 'criminals and notorious armed robbers'

The Ghana chapter of Nigerian In Diaspora Organization (NIDO), the body responsible for championing and protecting the cause of Nigerians in the diaspora has condemned and is demanding a retraction over allegations and accusations made by Ghanaian media personality, Kweku Annan of Net 2 Television about some Nigerians living in the country.

In a recent episode of his weekly television program, The Seat, Mr. Annan labeled Nigerians as criminals and notorious arms robbers, alleging that Nigerians living in Dome-Kwabenya, a suburb of Accra are into criminal activities including fraud, ritual killings, bribery, and many others.

He stated vehemently without providing any form of evidence that "these guys pay a lot of top police officers in Ghana every month."

He said the popular Nigerian group, Great Men Progressive Club led their "ringleader", Odugba Benson now engage in criminal activities like "hacking into bank accounts, corporate organizations, individual bank accounts and at the same time breaching data system and other things".

However, speaking to the press, the Secretary of NIDO, Reverend Tony White condemned the libelous claims by Mr. Annan noting that the presenter is using his platform to stoke xenophobia against Nigeria with its attendant collateral damage.

"First and foremost, it is a patent error for Mr. Kwaku Annan to use the media to be outrightly speculative by alleging that crimes in Ghana are perpetrated by Nigerians, as crime has no nationality," Reverend White said.

"We don't also believe in collective guilt and to impute that because a Nigerian was involved in a crime, then it translates that all Nigerians have criminality on their DNA is rather preposterous and contrived," he added.

He urged the "relevant authorities in Ghana to compel Mr. Kwaku Annan and NET 2 Television to retract his statements and henceforth desist from making such inciting utterances."

According to him, "such utterances are capable of causing untold pain, agony as well as apprehension to the law-abiding Nigerians living in Ghana while turning Ghanaian brothers against Nigerians."

Meanwhile, the Dome-Kwabenya Yoruba community in Ghana has called on the media to desist from propagating bias reportage that incites Ghanaians against Nigerians in the country.

In a press statement released on Monday, June 21, 2021, the group expressed displeasure about the selective focus on the bad happenings involving Nigerians, leaving out the efforts some reputable businesses are making to contribute to the growth of the Ghanaian economy.

Although they admit there are some bad nuts amongst the many good Nigerians, they ask that the security operatives conduct their investigations diligently and arrest culprits found guilty to serve as a deterrence to others.