Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Geoffrey Onyeama has condemned an attack at the country’s High Commissioner’s residence in Accra on Friday night.
JoyNews editor, Fred Smith was called to the High Commissioner’s residence Saturday after armed men with bulldozers demolished a block of uncompleted apartment on the property.
The building was being constructed to house staff and visiting diplomats to the High Commission.
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According to the head of security at the High Commission, Emmanuel Kabutey, the leader of the team that came to demolish the building told them they had the backing of National Security and that “if any of us try, he will clear us off.”
Mr Onyeama has described the incident as “criminal attacks.”
In a tweet, the Foreign Affairs Minister said “we strongly condemn two outrageous criminal attacks in Accra, Ghana on a residential building in our diplomatic premises by unknown persons in which a bulldozer was used to demolish the building.”
Mr Onyeama added that his office is engaging the government of Ghana and “demand urgent action to find the perpetrators and provide adequate protection for Nigerians and their property in Ghana.”
Meanwhile, Ghana Foreign Affairs Ministry in denouncing the attack described it as a development “which is a breach of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (VCDR, 19610).”
The Ministry says investigations are ongoing to unravel the fact of the matter and bring the perpetrators to book, a statement copied to JoyNews said.
In the meantime, however, the government of Ghana has beefed up security at the said facility and the situation is “under control,” the statement added.
“Whilst expressing regrets over the incident the Ministry wishes to reassure the Diplomatic Community in Ghana and the Nigeria High Commission in particular, that Ghana remains a law-abiding country that upholds the principles of the rule of law, where due process is followed at all times.
“The government will, therefore, not relent on its primary obligation to guarantee the safety of Members of the Diplomatic Corps in Ghana,” the statement said.