Ghanaian authorities detain Nigerian lawmaker after Buhari accuses them of sponsoring terrorism

GHANAIAN authorities recently detained a member of Nigerian House of Representatives in response to a warning from President Muhammadu Buhari that a member of the National Assembly is financing a secessionist movement in the country.

In his independence day speech, President Buhari said the government is investigating financiers of secessionist campaigners like Nnamdi Kanu and Sunday Adeyemo.  Hon Ben Igbakpa, the lawmaker representing the Ethiope East/Ethiope West Federal Constituency of Delta State, said that as a result of the warning, he was detained for four hours in Ghana.

According to the legislator, Ghana has now put Nigerian lawmakers on its terror watch list, adding that President Buhari should name the suspected financier and prosecute him/her. According to Hon Igbakpa, the failure of President Buhari to name the alleged financier is placing all the 469 members of the National Assembly as prime suspects.

President Buhari had said: “The recent arrests of Nnamdi Kanu and Sunday Adeyemo and the ongoing investigations being conducted have revealed certain high-profile financiers behind these individuals. We are vigorously pursuing these financiers including one identified as a serving member of the National Assembly.”

Hon Igbakpa called on leaders of the House to liaise with the leadership of the Senate to meet President Buhari on the matter. Narrating his ordeal in Ghana, he claimed that he was informed that Nigerian lawmakers have been placed on a watchlist, so was detained for four hours at the airport.

“On Saturday, I had to honour an invitation to Ghana for a wedding Mr speaker and it will amaze you what I faced in the hands of Ghanaian officials. I got there, they kept me for about four hours and they were trying to confirm something.

"I stayed at the airport for four hours, missed the wedding that I went there for and at the end of the day one of them walked up to me and said sir, we are sorry, because there is an announcement in Nigeria that a member of parliament is sponsoring terrorism. We are out on red alert to ensure that no member of parliament from Nigeria come here to hide or to cause trouble,” Hon Igbakpa added.

Speaker, Hon Femi Gbajabiamila, however, did not allow debate on the matter, noting that points of privilege should not be debated. He ruled that the House has noted the point of privilege raised.

One lawmaker that has a link with Mr Kanu is the minority leader of the Senate, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, who was one of the three persons that stood surety for him in April 2017. Senator Abaribe was reportedly detained in 2018 over his links with Mr Kanu who was in exile after jumping bail following the invasion of his house by the men of the Nigerian Army.

Mr Kanu is currently in the custody of the State Secret Service after he was abducted in Kenya and smuggled to Nigeria in a commando operation. Mr Adeyemo, popularly known as Sunday Igboho is currently in detention in Benin Republic following his arrest at Cotonou Airport on his way to Germany.