Nigeria Denies Receiving US Deportees after reports claimed some Nigerians were sent to Ghana under America’s third-country deportation policy
According to Reuters, Ghana’s President John Mahama confirmed on Wednesday that a first batch of 14 deportees, including Nigerians and a Gambian, had arrived in Accra under a new arrangement with the US.
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Ghana agreed to host West African deportees temporarily, citing ECOWAS’ visa-free policy.
“We were approached by the US to accept third-party nationals who were being removed from the US, and we agreed because West Africans don’t need a visa to come to Ghana,” Mahama explained.
However, Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Thursday it had not been officially informed of any Nigerians included in the group.
The development follows Washington’s revived “third-country deportation” policy, which allows deportees to be relocated to countries other than their own if their governments refuse to accept them.
The controversial policy has drawn criticism across Africa, with countries like Rwanda, Eswatini, Ghana, and South Sudan accepting deportees, while Nigeria has resisted.
In July, Foreign Affairs Minister Yusuf Tuggar warned that Nigeria opposed being pressured to receive deportees from countries like Venezuela.
He described the US move as “unacceptable,” stressing that it would unfairly burden Nigeria.
Retired Nigerian diplomats expressed mixed reactions. Ambassador Rasheed Akinkuolie said Ghana had the sovereign right to accept deportees, while Ambassador Ogbole Amedu-Ode suggested the decision was driven by logistics since ECOWAS citizens do not need visas to enter Ghana.
Another retired envoy, Mohammed Mabdul, cautioned that mishandling deportation issues could worsen already fragile Nigeria-Ghana relations.
Diplomatic tensions have also been sharpened by US threats of visa sanctions against countries that obstruct deportations.
In April, Secretary of State Marco Rubio threatened to revoke visas for South Sudanese nationals after their government initially resisted.
The US Supreme Court in June cleared the legal path for such deportations, enabling Washington to expand the policy globally.
Several African nations have since been targeted, raising human rights concerns about the treatment of deportees abroad.
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As of Thursday, Nigeria maintains it has not received any communication confirming that its citizens were among those deported to Ghana.
