The President of the Nigerian Union of Traders Association Ghana (NUTAG), Chukwuemeka Nnaji says the government of Ghana must protect their members at Abossey Okai from threats and intimidation from the Ghana Union Traders Association (GUTA).
According to him, GUTA in their recent threat is asking all Nigerian traders to close their shops on Wednesday, July 28, 2020 and subsequently submit their business documents to the association for perusal.
Speaking on Eyewitness News on Tuesday, Chukwuemeka Nnaji said GUTA came around with a van and a public address system announcing the directive for the closure of shops belonging to Nigerians.
“They said we should not open on Wednesday and so we should bring documents to their office. I don’t know whether there is any institutions coming with them or it’s just them…It was just an open-air announcement, they brought a van to broadcast the information,” he said.
He said the Nigerian traders do not have challenges if government agencies are involved and tasked to review their documents.
He also added that while they are allowed to trade under ECOWAS protocols in Ghana, they may have no option but to leave the country.
“We are taking this [threat] very seriously. We are calling on the government to protect the lives of Nigerians in Obossey Okai because we don’t want any lives to be lost. If they think there is any problem, they should bring authorities to come and check our documents…The police and the government of Ghana should protect our lives,” he said.
The Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) and Nigerian traders in the country have in the past few months been in bad terms following series of actions taken by GUTA to stop the Nigerians from trading within the retail space.
Some shops of Nigerians at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle were recently allowed to operate recently after they were forcibly closed by GUTA months ago over as a result of the fracas between the two associations.
