Residents and Ghanaian traders at Suame in the Ashanti region have demonstrated and subsequently forced Nigerian traders in the area to close down their shops, claiming that their activities are illegal.
The Ghanaian traders attacked and ransacked shops of their Nigerian counterparts, burning lorry tyres Wednesday morning which caused the Nigerian traders to flee.
This development comes after the Ashanti Regional police command assured Nigerian traders of maximum security, hence urging them to continue business, following a meeting held on Tuesday.
Ultimate FM’s Isaac Bediako reported that Nigerian traders opened business Wednesday morning, but unfortunately were attacked with few reported injured.
Police, however, stormed the scene to restore order, and now the demonstration is a peaceful one, Isaac Bediako reported.
Meanwhile, Nigerian Journalist Francis Achi says that Nigerians in the country fear that they will be exposed to xenophobic attacks.
He accused Ghanaian leaders of not speaking well of the good relationship between both countries.
Speaking to Francis Abban on the Morning Starr he said: “your leaders have also not helped the matter because some of the utterances that have come out from the leaders in Ghana does not even speak well of the good relationship between the two citizens.”
“So right now in Nigeria, there is palpable fear that Nigerian in Ghana can be attacked in terms of xenophobic attacks. At the same time Nigerians also here are also looking at an eye for an eye, that if they go out they also know there are some Ghanaians here.”
When asked if there is a form if reprisal attack on Ghanaians in Nigeria, he said “I am telling you that they are trying to avoid such thinking, that we as Nigerians we should not do that. We should protect Nigerians that are in other countries, not just in Ghana.”
He added, “They have also called upon the Nigerian leaders to also speak with the counterparts from Ghana to see how this problem can be solved amicably so that it does not generate into a kind of more bigger crises than we ever envisaged.”
