By Gbenga Abulude
President Muhammadu Buhari, Tuesday, threw his weight behind the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila to proceed on a trip to Ghana for what he termed “Legislative Diplomacy”.
The legislative diplomacy would allow the Speaker to mediate in the friction between the two countries caused by the actions of Ghanaian officials and lately the closure of Nigerian shops in Ghana which has made the Nigerian government to be talking tough on what it has described as “harassment” of its citizens.
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 workable solution between both countries.
The Speaker arrived the Presidential Villa around 3pm and had a closed door meeting with the President.
He is expected to leave for the legislative diplomacy trip on Wednesday.
Recall The New Diplomat had reported that the Federal government, last Friday released a statement condemning the acts of animosity by Ghanaian officials towards Nigerian traders.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, had said that the country was documenting the different acts of hostilities towards Nigerians over the years and was considering a number of options aimed at ameliorating the situation.
He noted that the actions by Ghanaian authorities contravened the Vienna Convention and ECOWAS Protocol signed by the different countries.
But the Ghanaian government through her Minister of Information, Mr. Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, in a six-page statement, denied the allegations, saying the statement issued by his Nigerian counterpart was full of inaccuracies.
