Ghanaian investors and community members stormed the Nigerian High Commission in Abuja on Wednesday, demanding redress for what they described as “systematic harassment, intimidation, and violation of our fundamental rights” by the Nigeria Police and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
“Our businesses are being hounded at every turn,” one of the lead developers of the River Park Estate project in Abuja, Kojo Mensah, said.
The Ghanaians claimed that their fundamental rights were being violated, alleging arbitrary arrests, repeated police invitations, and intimidation by 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 said.
Wielding banners that read, “Hands Off Ghanaian Investors!” and “Tinubu, Mahama: Intervene Now!”, the demonstrators called for the immediate sack of Inspector General of Police, Mr Kayode Egbetokun, whom they accused of targeted attacks on Ghanaian businesses operating in Nigeria.
“We demand that President Bola Tinubu and President John Mahama use every diplomatic channel to stop this injustice,” the investors said.
The protest comes after Jonah Capital and its co-plaintiffs filed a claim at the Federal High Court in Abuja, naming IGP Egbetokun, the Nigeria Police, and the EFCC as defendants.
They are requesting a perpetual injunction prohibiting both authorities “from any further interference in the River Park Estate matter”, a quick revelation of the long-awaited Special Investigation Panel findings, and N200 million in damages for claimed constitutional violations.
According to the plaintiffs, the purpose of the litigation is not just to seek retribution but also to protect the integrity of foreign investments in Nigeria and deter what they call state-sponsored intimidation of legitimate investors.
In their updated writ, the plaintiffs claimed that, while the SIP completed its investigation and reported to the IG, the findings were never made available to the investors, despite repeated formal demands.
“Instead”, the suit argues, “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.”
