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Ghana Says Nigeria Didn’t Pay Rent On Embassy Building For 46 Years
Ghana has dismissed allegations of harassment of Nigerians saying that Nigeria’s embassy building pulled down few months ago was instigated by Nigeria’s failure to pay rent on the building for 46 years.
The country’s minister for information, Kojo Nkrumah in a four page rebuttal of the allegations raised against the country by Nigeria’s minister of information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, expressed shock at the extent to which Nigeria went to raise issues where according to him where there were really no issues.
He also alleged a plot by a Nigerian based in Ghana to raise issues between the two countries towards influencing local Ghanaian politics.
In the press statement obtained by GWG, Nkrumah took up the issues raised by Nigeria’s Mohammed debunking insinuations of bias against Nigeria and Nigerians by the authorities in Ghana step by step.
On the demolition of the Nigeria embassy building, he said “The statement is inaccurate. The transaction was a commercial arrangement between Thomas D. Hardy, a private citizen and the High Commission of Nigeria in Ghana on 23rd October, 1959
“The terms of the Commercial Lease expired 46 years ago, without any evidence of renewal by the High Commission of Nigeria in Ghana. The Government of Ghana was not involved in the transaction and has not seized the property in question.”
On the claim that 300 shops belonging to Nigerians had been closed down, the minister said that authorities in the country acting on claims that various persons including Ghanaians and non-Ghanaians had been involved in “various forms of trade without complying with the laws and regulations of Ghana, several engagements and prior advice had been given to encourage compliance.”
He said Ghana’s minister for trade and industry personally intervened in the issue to ensure reopening pending compliance with the laws.
He said the $1 million levy required of foreigners to engage in trading was not directed at Nigerians alone but was a Ghanaian law which according to him has not received condemnation from international organizations.
He also threw a punch at Nigeria saying that despite entreaties to Nigeria to lift the closure of the country’s borders that Nigeria remained intransigent and by that locking out goods from Nigeria.
The minister nevertheless affirmed the determination of the country to sustain good relations with Nigeria at all times.
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