Several shops were shut down today at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle in Accra after people suspected to be of Nigerians descent allegedly ransacked and looted shops belonging to their Ghanaian counterparts on the Tip-Toe Lane, Accra.
According to some Ghanaian shop owners who spoke to Adomonline.com, they received calls at dawn informing them that some Nigerians were destroying their shops under the guise of being members of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) Taskforce.
According to them, information available to them suggests that the Nigerians had paid huge sums of money to the AMA taskforce to clear the Ghanaians to make way for new shops built by the Nigerians.
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Mobile phones, laptops, electronic accessories, and other valuables were stolen from the ransacked shops, the traders alleged.
“We don’t want Nigerians here anymore. They are the ones behind this. We were called at dawn to come here or lose our valuables and it happened – we have lost everything. They broke into our shops and stole our laptops and other things,” they complained.
In an interview with the man who gave out the land to the Nigerians, Mr Michael Sarpong, he condemned the actions of the foreigners, explaining that the matter was before the law court.
“The issue is at the law court. I told them [Nigerians] to stop building but they did build at a time that no one was around. I am against what they have done and since the issue is at the law court I don’t want to say much. I allocated the land to them but they have breached the contract [I have with them],” he explained.
Watch Mr Michael Sarpong explain himself in the video below:
The Chairman of Circle Trader’s Union, Mr Seth Kojo Owusu Yeboah, known to many in the area as “Chairman 1”, expressed grief over the unfortunate incident, calling on the government to ensure justice prevails.
“We don’t know the Nigerians; they must pay for the damages caused. We were not informed. Why would they operate at dawn if it was legit? It was not an AMA operation else we would have been informed. The government must come in,” Mr Yeboah urged.
Mr Henry Quartey, Deputy Minister of the Interior who rushed to the scene asked the residents to calm down as the government will make sure justice is served.
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He assured shop owners who were affected to take heart, reiterating the NPP government has indigenous businesses at heart.
