House of Rep to wade into maltreatment of Nigerians in Ghana

By TIMOTHY CHOJI, Abuja

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, is embarking on a diplomatic trip to Ghana, as he seeks a solution to the crisis between Nigeria and Ghana.

Addressing State House Correspondents after meeting with President Muhamamdu Buhari at the State House on Tuesday, the Speaker said he obtained the President’s blessings to embark on such a trip, which he called “Legislative Diplomacy.”

The visit has become necessary on the closure of Nigerian shops in the West African country.

“It’s a routine visit to the President, where we usually discuss issues and one of the things we discussed today is, I am leaving for Ghana tomorrow, to meet with the Speaker of the Parliament in Ghana to look at the issues on ground as it affects our citizens to try and calm things down and see if there is a way forward.

“I informed the President and he is aware of every single step that we are taking and we hope that we come to an amicable settlement one way or the other.

“It is Legislative Diplomacy, if you remember very well, when I was leader of the House, I led a delegation to South Africa during the crisis there with Nigerians and we were able to achieve a little bit to see more things done at that time,” the Speaker said.

He said since both Nigerians and Ghannians have their own sides of the story and that  what he intended to achieve was to find a meeting point in the crisis, so as to resolve it amicably.

“The Ghanaians have their own take on what is going on and we have our own take so we will see how we can marry the two takes and see how we can come to a solution.

“We are two strong West African countries therefore, there must be symbiosis, we must work together because you don’t get anything from working across purposes so we must work together as best as possible as we can,” he stressed.

The Speaker said President Buhari is a man of peace and he believes that all avenues for peace must be explored.

Gbajabiamila had last week said the closure of Nigerian shops in Ghana contravened the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) trade protocols and had called for a decisive solution between both countries. (VON)