NiDCOM Receives Professor Nwagbara, Decries Deportation of 1036 Nigerians from Ghana
Oru Leonard
The Chairman, National Diaspora Commission,NiDCOM, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, has received a Nigerian Professor, Augustine Nwagbara, allegedly exiled in Ghana, for making statements the Ghanaian authorities claimed were derogatory.
In an interaction with journalists in her office, Dabiri-Erewa, condemned the act and noted that the continent will suffer should Nigeria decide to treat other nationals in same manner.
“It will not go down well in the continent if Nigeria decides to do what they do to Nigerians over there.
“We demand respect. If a Nigerian commits a crime, you should deal with that particular person rather than generalize issues by punishing those who are innocent of the crime”, she stated.
She recalled that about 1,036 Nigerians have been sent back from Ghana through the land border in the last 18 months, explaining that while 509 Nigerians were deported within the last six months, about 527 were deported in 2018. “if a crime is committed by a Nigerian in Diaspora, the individual should be dealt with and not Generalization” Abike stated.
She said that with the signing of African Free Trade Agreement (AFTA), there is need for African countries to be united and work towards promoting bilateral relations.
In his response, Prof Nwagbara narrated his ordeal, said it was escalated when a Ghanaian journalist Israel Layi wrote a report promoting xenophobia with a video which showed the professor addressing people. Professor Nwagbara said the video which was clinically doctored portrayed him as inciting Nigerians against Ghana.
Nwagbara stated that he was yet to receive a letter of dismissal from Ghanaian government, stressing that the video circulating of his alleged dismissal, was doctored. He noted that the entire scenario was to promote xenophobia mainly against Nigerians.
According to him, he went through serious ordeal from the University authorities in Ghana as he was subjected to series of interrogations by the University of Education, Winneba , Ghana.
“They said I was sacked, then dismissed, which was another wrong word to use, as you cannot dismiss some body on sabbatical in your country”
“As I speak with you , I have not received any letter of sack or dismissal whereas various versions of the letters are already in circulation in Ghana and on social media”, he explained
Augustine commended the intervention of the Nigerian High Commission in Ghana, saying that without their timely intervention, he would have been a dead person.
Augustine Uzoma Nwagbara, a Professor of English Language, has been on sabbatical at the Department of Applied Linguistics since October, 2018 at the University of Education Winneba in Ghana before his appointment was terminated after an internal disciplinary process which claimed he was culpable of gross misconduct.
According to reports from some sources, the injustice done to Professor Uzoma has been applauded by some notable top Ghanaian officials among whom was the Country’s Minister, Mensah Bonsu.
“What the university has done is appropriate and we can’t continue to have such persons in our midst. No country will encourage that sort of thing in its backyard,”Mensah was reported to have said.
