Nigeria expresses anger at demolition of embassy building in Ghana

Nigeria summoned a senior Ghanaian diplomat to complain over “attacks” on its embassy compound in Accra that saw a building demolished, the foreign minister said on Monday.  “Summoned the Charge d’Affaires of the High Commission of Ghana to Nigeria, Ms Iva Denoo to demand urgent explanation on the recent attacks on a residential building in our diplomatic premises and reinforcement of security around diplomatic premises and staff,” Geoffrey Onyeama wrote on Twitter.  Armed men reportedly entered the Nigerian High Commission compound in Ghana’s capital Accra on Friday to supervise bulldozers to demolish a building under construction.

Onyeama on Sunday demanded those responsible must be punished, adding that Nigeria was in talks with the Ghanaian authorities over the matter.  “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,” he said. The Ghanaian authorities said they would probe the incident. “Accordingly, investigations are ongoing to unravel the facts of the matter and bring the perpetrators to book,” Ghana’s foreign ministry said on Sunday.  The incident came five months after the foreign ministry denied reports that the Nigerian diplomatic mission in Ghana had been evicted from Accra. Traditional rulers in the city have complained that the Nigerian High Commission was encroaching on land they owned.