A Nigerian deported from the United States to Ghana has cried out that he was now stranded in Togo after being secretly transferred across the border along with five others by Ghanaian officials.
The man, who spoke to the BBC on condition of anonymity, said they were initially told they would be moved from a military camp to better accommodation, but were “dumped” in Togo instead.
According to the deportee, the group is taken through a back route into Togo, allegedly after local police were bribed, without notifying Togolese authorities.
He said: “They did not take us through the main border; they took us through the back door. They paid the police there and dropped us in Togo.”
He said four of the deportees, including three Nigerians and a Liberian, had since checked into a hotel in Lomé, the Togolese capital, just across the border, with no documents.
‘’They are relying on hotel staff to receive financial assistance from relatives abroad. We’re struggling to survive in Togo without any documentation.
“None of us has family in Togo. We’re just stuck in a hotel. Right now, we’re just trying to survive until our lawyers can help us with this situation,’’ he explained.
The deportee said conditions at the Ghanaian military camp were harsh, describing them as “deplorable.”
He told BBC: “Life there was really hard, so we asked for a better place, better medication, better healthcare and better water.’’
He added that when officials arrived days later, claiming to move them to a hotel, they ended up in Togo instead.
“When we arrived, we asked what we were doing at the border, and they told us they wanted us to sign some paperwork, so they could take us to a hotel, but we didn’t sign anything,” he said.
The deportee also spoke of the personal impact of his removal, lamenting “I have a house in the US where my kids live.
‘’How am I supposed to pay the mortgage? I don’t know how they’ll manage while I’m gone. My kids can’t see me, and it’s just so stressful.’’
He is a member of the Yoruba Self-Determination Movement, an activist organisation advocating for a breakaway state in south-west Nigeria, and fears returning home could put him at risk of arrest or torture.
He also claimed, being a member of the Yoruba Self-Determination Movement, to have a US court-ordered protection that should have prevented his deportation, though the US government has not explained its decision.
The deportee was part of a wider group of West Africans, including nationals from Togo, Liberia and The Gambia, who were flown from US detention facilities to Ghana last month.
Lawyers for the group have filed legal action against both the US and Ghana, alleging violations of their rights.
Ghanaian officials, including Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, said the country accepted the deportees out of “pan-African empathy”, adding that no financial incentive was involved.
The deportation deal, announced by President John Mahama, has sparked calls from opposition MPs to suspend the arrangement until it was ratified by parliament.
However, the government plans to accept another 40 deportees.
Recall that both the ministry of foreign affairs and the Nigerian Diaspora Commission, NIDCOM, had told Vanguard last week that they were not aware of deportation of any Nigerian to Ghana by the US government.
By Nkiruka Nnorom @Vangaurd
