Omololu Ogunmade and Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja
Ghanaian President, Nana Akufo-Addo, yesterday tendered his country’s apology to President Muhammadu Buhari over the demolition of a building in the premises of the Nigerian High Commission in Accra, Ghana.
Senior Special Assistant to the president, Mallam Garba Shehu, in a statement, said Akufo-Addo, in a telephone call to the president, said he had directed that the incident should be investigated and the culprits brought to book.
According to the statement, information at the presidency’s disposal earlier in the day, showed that some suspects had been arrested in connection with the demolition, and would be arraigned in court.
Armed men, led by a Ghanaian, had on Friday invaded the premises of the High Commission in Accra and pulled down a residential building, claiming that he owned the land on which it was built.
Consequently, the federal government summoned the diplomat in charge of the High Commission of Ghana in Nigeria, Ms Iva Denoo, to explain the rationale behind the attack unleashed on Nigeria in her country.
Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs’ Minister, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama, equally demanded that the perpetrators of the unprovoked attack must be duly punished.
“We strongly condemn two outrageous criminal attacks in Accra, Ghana, on a residential building in our diplomatic premises by unknown persons in which a bulldozer was used to demolish the building,” the minister had said.
Reacting to the development, Ghana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it had commenced a probe into the incident.
“Accordingly, investigations are ongoing to unravel the facts of the matter and bring the perpetrators to book,” the ministry said.
The demolition occurred five months after it was rumoured that Nigeria’s High Commission in Ghana had been evicted.
