Dr. Chukwuemeka B. Eze, the Executive Director of the West African Network for Peace building (WANEP), has called on Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) President Akufo-Addo to weigh in on the current unrest in Nigeria.
Interacting with the media on Wednesday, 21 October 2020, Dr. Eze noted that, “the Ghanaian president is the current Chair of ECOWAS so I’ll be shocked if he’s not engaging behind the scenes.”
“But a public statement that shows the people of Nigeria that they are not alone should have gone out by now while the diplomacy continues. A public statement will provide reassurance and tell the Nigerian people that they are not alone in this”.
There has been a deluge of statements by the general public venting over the alleged Lekki toll shootings. This has equally prompted several other Nigerians and Ghanaians including high profile musicians, broadcasters and actors all taking to twitter to express their misgivings over President Akufo-Addo’s long silence on the issues happening in Nigeria.
Mr. Abraham Amaliba, a private legal practitioner and Member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), said the long silence of the ECOWAS Chair is disturbing.
Speaking on this development on an Accra based television station, Mr. Amaliba noted that President Akufo-Addo has been overly relaxed on the matter, as he reckons a statement should have been on the happenings.
“This president has been sleeping a lot on national and international issues. He should have spoken by now.
“Ghana will need to take a cue from this. As politicians we need to ensure that what is happening in Nigeria does not happen. We need to take care of the welfare and the needs of the people. Akufo-addo is taking care of the welfare and needs of only the people of his ethnic clan.
“We have never seen in this country before where a president has appointed over 50 people close to him into office. That angers people. These are some of the things that we need to avoid.
“The president, as ECOWAS [Chair] by now should be speaking, by now should be engaging with his counterpart in Nigeria.”
Meanwhile, over a hundred protestors have besieged the premises of the Nigeria High Commission in Accra to protest against brutalities in Nigeria.
The action follows the opening of fire on unarmed protestors in Lagos by Nigerian military personnel on Tuesday evening.
Some media reports from Nigeria indicated that over 40 persons may have been killed with many more wounded in the nationwide protests.
The incident at the Lekki tollbooth which involved the military personnel, in particular, prompted some media outlets in Nigeria to describe the day as ‘Black Tuesday’.
Some of the Nigerian youth who flooded the Nigeria High Commission held placards and were in black attire, indicative of their displeasure of the recent happenings in Nigeria.
This is the second time some Nigerian youth in Ghana have thronged their mission in Accra to protest and express their reservations over reports of brutalities being meted out on innocent citizens by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) in Nigeria.
