Hundreds of Ghanaian investors and community members staged a protest outside the Nigerian High Commission in Abuja yesterday, demanding action over alleged “systematic harassment, intimidation, and violation of our fundamental rights” by the Nigeria Police and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
- Ghanaian investors protested outside the Nigerian High Commission in Abuja, citing systematic harassment by Nigerian authorities.
- The protest highlighted arbitrary arrests and intimidation from the police and EFCC against Ghanaian businesses.
- A lawsuit was filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja by Ghanaian investors seeking an injunction against further interference.
Our businesses are being hounded at every turn, stated Kojo Mensah, a lead developer for the River Park Estate project in Abuja. The investors claim their basic rights are being breached, citing arbitrary arrests, repeated police invitations, and intimidation from both the police and the EFCC.
We’ve been arrested arbitrarily, summoned without cause, and subjected to endless interrogations, yet the very complaints we cooperated to resolve back in 2012 remain buried in some dusty file, he added.
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Call for intervention
Waving banners proclaiming “Hands Off Ghanaian Investors!” and “Tinubu, Mahama: Intervene Now!”, the demonstrators called for the immediate dismissal of Inspector General of Police, Mr Kayode Egbetokun. They accuse him of orchestrating targeted attacks on Ghanaian businesses operating in Nigeria.
The investors pleaded, We demand that President Bola Tinubu and President John Mahama use every diplomatic channel to stop this injustice.
Legal action initiated
The protest follows the filing of a lawsuit at the Federal High Court in Abuja by Jonah Capital and its co-plaintiffs, naming IGP Egbetokun, the Nigeria Police, and the EFCC as defendants.
The plaintiffs are seeking a perpetual injunction to prevent both agencies from any further interference in the River Park Estate matter, the immediate disclosure of a long-overdue Special Investigation Panel (SIP) report, and the sum of N200m in damages for alleged breaches of their constitutional rights.
According to the plaintiffs, the lawsuit aims not only to secure redress but also to protect the integrity of foreign investments in Nigeria and deter what they describe as state-sponsored intimidation of legitimate investors.
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In their amended writ, the plaintiffs allege that despite the SIP concluding its investigation and reporting to the Inspector General, its findings have never been provided to the investors, despite repeated formal requests. Instead, the suit contends, a senior officer in the IG’s Monitoring Unit has unilaterally reopened the investigation, purportedly to undermine the SIP’s clear exoneration of our companies.
