A Security Analyst believes that the Nigerian High Commissioner to Ghana was right to caution the Ghanaian media on negative reportage that brand Nigerians as criminals.  

According to Dr. Vladimir Antwi Danso, the High Commissioner, Micheal Olufemi Abikoye,  feared the narrative in the media had the tendency to lead to xenophobia attacks, a situation he sought to avert. 

Dr. Antwi Danso who is the Dean and Director of Academic Affairs of the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College (GAFCSC) added that the negative reportage has placed all Nigerians in a collective group as criminals even though some Nigerians in Ghana are not involved in any criminal activities at all.

He was speaking to Joy News on the back of the recent arrest of some Nigerians in relation to kidnappings, which have been on the ascendancy in the country. 

Fresh details have emerged pointing to Nigerian masterminds behind the kidnapping of two Canadian girls who were volunteering in Ghana, Joy News reported.

Three Nigerians whose identities are yet to be confirmed held Bailey Jordan Chitty, 20, and Lauren Patricia Catherine Tilley, 19, at a house at Akyease in the Kwabre East District of the Ashanti region.

Two other Nigerian suspects are being held over the kidnapping of three girls in the Western regional capital, Takoradi, in 2018. The girls are yet to be found.

But the Nigerian High Commissioner, Micheal Olufemi Abikoye has rejected any notions that Nigerians are responsible for the crime of kidnappings in Ghana. 

According to him, Nigerians in Ghana are law-abiding citizens who are “astute businessmen, bankers, insurance brokers, teaming students as well as investors.”

He added that the ongoing media trial has “larger implications for Nigerians living in Ghana and Ghanaians living in Nigeria as well.” 

Dr. Antwi Danso agrees. 

“The way the narratives have been painted in the media, especially in social media, has created a kind of social psyche which I think the Nigerian High Commissioner is afraid would degenerate. That’s how I take it, and he’s very right in cautioning our brothers,” he told Joy News’ Roland Walker.