Popular Ghanaian on-air personality and media strategist, SOG Precious of Starr FM, has described the recent “Nigeria Must Go” protest in Ghana as a retaliatory move against Nigeria’s 1983 mass deportation of Ghanaians.
Speaking during an interview on Channels TV’s Morning Brief on Friday, Precious asserted that the protest mirrors lingering resentment from the historic expulsion carried out under Nigeria’s then-president, Shehu Shagari.
“It is a form of retaliation for what happened in 1983,” he stated.
His comment comes in the wake of a viral video shared earlier in the week, showing dozens of Ghanaians protesting with placards demanding the deportation of Nigerians from Ghana.
Adding to his claims, Precious alleged that some Nigerians in Ghana—particularly young women—are involved in prostitution and other illegal activities, a concern he said is reflected in local data.
In response to the growing tension, Nigeria’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, has urged calm, assuring that there is “no cause for alarm.”
Similarly, Nigeria’s High Commissioner to Ghana, Ambassador Demola, clarified that the protests were not directed at all Nigerians, but rather at individuals allegedly engaged in activities considered harmful to Ghanaian society.
“I think the focus is on tertiary traders and people I would describe as probably undesirable to their system and their economy,” Demola said during an interview on Arise News.
The protest has reignited memories of the 1983 “Ghana Must Go” episode, when Nigeria expelled over a million undocumented West African migrants—most of them Ghanaians—over economic and political pressures at the time.