Diplomatic row: Nigeria sends Gbajabiamila to Ghana

The speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, on Tuesday received the nod of President Muhammadu Buhari to travel to Ghana on a “Legislative Diplomacy” over the closure of Nigerian shops there.

Addressing State House reporters after meeting with Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, Gbajabiamila said he would meet with his Ghanaian counterpart on Wednesday.

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He said the trip was to ensure that the matter was resolved amicably.

“I informed the president and he’s aware of every single step that we are taking, all the way and we hope that we’ll come to an amicable settlement one way or the other.

“It’s called Legislative Diplomacy, if you remember very well, during the days when I was leader of the House, I led the delegation to South Africa during the crisis there with Nigerians and we were able to accomplish quite a bit, to simmer things down at that time.”

Asked about the demands Nigeria was taking to Ghana, Gbajabiamila said: “No demands, we’re just going to discuss in the spirit of African Parliaments and we’ll be looking at issues from time to time as they affect African countries and this is one of them.”

When asked to express his feeling about the situation in Ghana at the moment, the speaker said: “I don’t want to make any statement at this time so that we don’t exacerbate matters.

“Like I said, we’re looking for amicable solutions.

“The Ghanaians have their take on what’s going on, we have our own take.

“We’ll see how we can marry the two takes and come to a solution.”

Gbajabiamila said Buhari was happy about his trip to Ghana.

“He’s a man of peace who believes every avenue for peace must be exploited, must be explored.

‘Yeah, we’re all on the same page.”

Ghanaian Minister of Information, Kojo Nkrumah, had on Sunday justified the $1m trade levy and other regulations imposed on Nigerian traders in Ghana.