Police have singled out two persons as the brains behind the attacks on Nigerian-owned shops at Suame Magazine on Wednesday.
“So far two names have been mentioned to the police as the masterminds of the attacks and efforts are underway to get them arrested,” police said in a statement.
Police and military personnel had to be deployed to maintain order at Suame Magazine after the irate traders ransacked the shops insisting they will evict all Nigerians who are still engaging in retail trade in the area.
Their actions were caught on camera and Police have also said they are working to apprehend other persons engaged in the vandalism.
“Other persons who have also been captured on video destroying properties belonging to Nigerian traders and burning car tyres will be duly identified and arrested,” the statement added.
A day earlier, a number of Nigerian traders left Suame Magazine after over 50 of their shops were closed down for engaging in retail trade contrary to Ghanaian laws.
According to the section 27 (1) of the GIPC Act, a person who is not a citizen or an enterprise which is not wholly owned by a citizen shall not invest or participate in the sale of goods or provision of services in a market, petty trading or hawking or selling of goods in a stall at any place.
But some of them returned to their businesses following assurances by the Ashanti Regional Police Command after it held meetings with the Nigerian Union of Traders Association Ghana (NUTAG) on Tuesday.
Police again have said, after a meeting with the Ghana Union of Traders’ Associations (GUTA) and NUTAG, it has been resolved that “nobody should be prevented from doing his or her business as such, all shops will be opened for business today Thursday 20th June 2019.”
The police thus assured that Nigerian traders can go back and open their shops “and continue to do their business without any fear of attack.”
The statement added that police and military personnel “will be within Suame Magazine and its surrounding areas to ensure that whoever does anything untoward is arrested and made to face the full rigours of the law without any fear and favour.”
