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In 1983, Nigerians woke up one day to demand that Ghanaians must leave their country. They felt our West African neighbours had become a nuisance and expelled over a million of them. This gave rise to the big bag called ‘Ghana Must Go’, which Ghanaians used to pack their belongings then.
Ironically, nemesis has caught up with Nigeria. As it was in 1983, so it is today. Rather than the chant of ‘Ghana must go’, what we hear now is, ‘Nigeria must go!’ It is unfortunate that the giant of Africa has become the Lilliputian of Africa on account of bad leadership. Which is why we must change the narrative to, ‘Nigerian corrupt leaders must go!’
Recall that protests broke out in parts of Ghana on Tuesday, July 29, 2025 over alleged criminal activities of some Nigerians. Ghanaians accused some of our citizens of engaging in kidnapping, ritual killings, prostitution and economic dominance. To add insult to injury, they resurrected a 2013 video where a self-proclaimed Igbo leader (Eze Ndigbo) in Ghana, Chukwudi Ihenetu, said he had acquired 50 acres of land to build an Igbo village in Ghana. This was interpreted in some quarters to be an insult to Ghana. How can a citizen of another country claim he is a king in Ghana, they wondered. Incidentally, Ihenetu reportedly abandoned the idea long ago and never purchased any land for that purpose.
The harassment of Nigerians in Ghana did not start today. In 2018 and 2020, Ghanaian authorities closed down some Nigerian businesses in that country. The Nigerian victims were said to have failed to show evidence of the $1 million Ghana Investment Promotion Council (GIPC) registration to remain in business. Ghana Union of Traders (GUTA) had similarly shut down about 1,000 Nigerian shops in 2019. Since 2007, Ghanaian authorities have subjected Nigerian traders to different levels of hardship despite paying their taxes. This is clearly against the spirit of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) protocol which empowers every citizen of the sub-region to live anywhere in West Africa without molestation. Ghanaians also live and do business in Nigeria.
Also in 2020, a certain Osu family in Ghana pulled down an official building on the premises of the Nigerian High Commission in Accra. They claimed then that the Nigerian High Commission failed to purchase the land and lease title certificates after acquiring the property in the year 2000. Ghanaian landlords are also in the habit of imposing exorbitant house rents on Nigerian tenants.
As a Nigerian, I felt particularly embarrassed and insulted by the protests against us in Ghana. When I was a post-graduate student in Cardiff, United Kingdom, in 2006, I used to boast to my Ghanaian friends that Nigeria was the giant of Africa. I usually rubbed it in at any forum involving Africans in the UK.
Now, see how low we have come as a nation. Everywhere we go, we are looked upon as criminals. At international airports, Nigerians are separated from other nationals and thoroughly searched. There are reports that even a poor country like Honduras turned Nigerians back from its shores and termed Nigerian passport to be ‘Category C’, the lowest in the hierarchy. What an insult!
In South Africa, Nigerians are routinely harassed and killed in what they call xenophobia. This has been happening since 1998. In 2023, gunmen attacked and killed some 16 Nigerian Muslim pilgrims travelling to Senegal in Burkina Faso.
In Libya, Nigerians undergo all kinds of inhuman treatment. Some of them want to use Libya as a transit country to Europe. But they get stock along the line and have to suffer the consequences.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) had placed visa ban on Nigerian passport holders on different occasions. Part of the accusation was that Nigerians and some other African nationals constituted unrest in the UAE through cultism and other illegal activities. It got so bad that in 2020, a Dubai recruitment firm, Shirley Recruitment Consultants Dubai, posted a job opening online for Africans but excluded Nigerians.
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Despite all these international embarrassment and harassment, Nigerians still troop out in their thousands to foreign countries. Many feel that anywhere outside Nigeria is better. They want to escape the existential problems at home.
While our compatriots suffer this harassment abroad, those remaining in the country are not better off. In the 2023 general election, certain individuals resorted to ethnic and religious bigotry as a campaign weapon. They issued threats against non-indigenes, especially the Igbo, in Lagos. They warned that every electorate must either vote for the All Progressives Congress (APC) or shouldn’t bother coming out to vote. A Baale (traditional ruler) in Eti-Osa area of Lagos even threatened that all residents must vote for the APC or leave his domain. Some characters carried out these threats by attacking some perceived political opponents during and after the election. In 2015, the Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu, similarly threatened to throw the Igbo into the lagoon if they failed to vote for the then Governor Akinwumi Ambode in Lagos.
One can be kidnapped at any time and from anywhere, including roads, offices or even home. Terrorists have made life unbearable for many citizens. Recently, some unknown gunmen abducted and later killed a young businessman in Anambra State. The young man was said to be the only son of his parents. His distraught mother, Esther Onyekesi, happens to be the Anambra State Woman Leader of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).
In Benue, Plateau and some other northern states, citizens live with their hearts in their mouths. Terrorists frequently attack and kill them with no rescue from any quarters. In the two years of the Bola Tinubu administration, Amnesty International estimates that at least 10, 217 people have been killed in Nigeria. With this type of scenario, why won’t citizens leave the country in droves?
Millions of our citizens are ravaged by hunger and poverty. Begging has become normal among many healthy citizens. Little wonder Nigeria is grouped among the hunger hotspots in the world. In this list, our country is among the four countries designated as countries of high concern. This is pathetic!
Amid all this, corruption thrives in official government quarters. On a regular basis, we hear of humongous amount of money being siphoned out of the system by those entrusted to protect our common wealth.
At the National Assembly, profligacy and corruption walk on all fours. The leadership of that NASS drive in a convoy of exotic vehicles worth over N7 billion. The sport utility vehicles (SUVs) the lawmakers cruise around in cost the nation about N57.6 billion. Every month, these legislators take home millions of Naira in the name of constituency allowance and some other allowances.
The executive arm is not better. The President moves and lives like an emperor. Soon after assuming office in 2023, he acquired a new presidential jet that cost the nation about $150 million. The vice-president moved into a new residence that cost taxpayers some N21 billion. They have continued to mortgage the future of our children by borrowing recklessly.
Rather than galvanise citizens by taking actions that will enthrone unity and progress, they have further worsened our fault lines. Nepotism is their stock-in-trade. Federal character is observed in the breach. The late former President Muhammadu Buhari made it his cardinal principle to appoint his cronies and tribesmen into positions of authority. The incumbent President has elevated it to outrageous level. They now use ethnicity as a weapon of campaign. Character and competence have been relegated to the background.
For almost two years now, Nigeria has not appointed ambassadors to defend the interest of the country abroad. President Tinubu withdrew them in September 2023. Why he has not deemed it fit to replace them remains unclear. When Libya locked down Nigerian Super Eagles without food or water for over 12 hours in Africa Cup of Nations qualifier in October 2024, there was no envoy to fight for the country.
Nigeria and Nigerians can only come out of this mess when we are fortunate to have a competent detribalized leader at the helm. But the cabal that has held us to ransom will not permit that. The best way to remove them from office is through the ballot. But they have mastered the art of rigging such that no matter how long you stand at the polling stations, and no matter what you do to protect your votes, they will still manoeuvre their way into power. The electoral umpire is in their pocket. The judiciary is no different. But for how long shall this continue?
Only Nigerians can liberate themselves. All we need to do is to unite with one voice and say enough is enough. Hunger does not know ethnicity. Kidnappers do not select their victims. There are countries whose citizens are bigger drug traffickers than our countrymen, but because Nigerians are so loud, people witch-hunt them more. All of us are in the pit together. We either rally round and rescue ourselves or continue to sink to the detriment of our next generations. Nigeria will be respected if it is better governed. Therefore, let us unite to chant, Nigerian corrupt leaders must go!
