If you grew up in Ghana, Nigeria or some other West African country, you must have heard of the bag “Ghana Must Go”. This is the name of a bag that is commonly used for packing loads by people when they are traveling.
But some of you might wonder why this bag wasn’t given some other name apart from the weird name “Ghana Must Go”. This name didn’t just come out of nowhere, it was given to the bag due to the events that transpired back then.
Back in the year 1983, during the democratic regime of President Shehu Shagari, the Nigerian government ordered mass deportation of illegal immigrants living in the country due to the crime that many of them were accused of committing in the country.
It turned out that majority of the people that were deported were Ghanaians who relocated to Nigeria for greener pastures. Nigeria was experiencing oil boom during this period and Ghana was experiencing serious economic hardship. The expulsion of over 2 million Africans from Nigeria didn’t just happen overnight, we are going to be giving further details of what truly transpired.
The Nigerian government and Ghana have been good friends and allies for so many years but their good relationship was threatened in the 1980s during the rulership of Ghanaian President Jerry J. Rawlings and the Nigerian President, Alhaji Sheu Shagari. Both presidents didn’t see eye to eye and the major reason was because the Nigerian President Shagari was friends with Ghana’s former president before Rawlings, but Rawlings overthrew him.
Rawlings cried out that Shagari wanted to help the former overthrown President of Ghana Hilla Limann, get back to power. Nigeria responded by stopping the shipping of crude oil to Ghana on loan. As the disagreement continued between both governments, it also continued among the citizens of both countries.
Cc: Asaase Radio
In 1980, it was alleged that the foreigners in Nigeria indulged in all sorts of crimes and it was threatening the peace of the country and the citizens of Nigeria were not ready to allow that. The situation took its turn for the worse when a Cameroonian foreigner known as Muhammed Marwa AKA Maistastine, led a religious uprising that resulted in the death of many Nigerians. Maistastine was an illegal immigrant just like many of his loyalists who were mostly Cameroonians, from Niger and Burkina Faso. This uprising is known as the second most tragic event in the history of Nigeria after the civil war.
Before the Ghana Must Go incident, Nigeria and Ghana had an old quarrel back in the year 1969 when the Ghanaian government declared the Aliens Compliance Order. This order resulted in the deportation of Nigerians and other foreign immigrants in Ghana because Ghana was in recession.
The straw that broke the Carmel’s back was the robbery that took place in Ekwueme’s house. Alex Ekwueme was the Vice President of Nigeria back then when a gang of armed robbers which consisted mainly of foreigners attacked the house of the vice president. After the robbers were caught, it was discovered that most of the robbers were Ghanaians.
Cc: Wikipedia
This incident made Nigerians very angry so the government took an immediate action. On the 17th day of January 1983, Nigeria’s Minister of Internal Affairs, Alhaji Alli Baba, announced the expulsion of all illegal immigrants from Nigeria within a two week period.
In a statement, the Nigerian President said
“If they don’t leave, they should be arrested and tried, and sent back to their homes. Illegal immigrants under normal circumstances, should not be given any notice whatsoever. If you break a law, then you have to pay for it.”
There was fear and confusion among the foreigners who were living illegally in the country because nobody expected the Nigerian government to take such a drastic decision. Over 1 million Ghanaians were affected by this decision, it’s alleged that the Nigerian Federal Government gave the authority to Nigerians to confront any illegal immigrant in the country.
This made the foreigners scared and they started running out of the country without their luggage. Those who could pack some of their belongings used the big bag that was available which was named “the Ghana Must Go Bag”.
The deportation of foreigners from Nigeria attracted great criticisms from different parts of the world. The US government referred to the situation as a shocking and a violation of every imaginable human right. But Nigeria did not reverse their order, they still deported so many illegal immigrants out of the country.
There were claims that the Shagari government was only doing the mass deportation to divert the attention of Nigerians from the corruption on his government, this was because an election was coming and Shagari had to do something to win the hearts of Nigerians to vote for him again.
Ghanaians ran out of Nigeria in large numbers because they knew that the country wasn’t safe for them anymore. Many of the Ghanaians camped at the Seme Border as they waited to gain entry into Benin Republic where they hoped that they would find a ship that would take them to Ghana.
Even though the route through Togo was much better, the then Ghanaian ruler and dictator Jerry Rawlings had closed the border because of an attempted coup that took place in the year 1981. Togo also closed their border with Benin Republic to avoid refugees trooping into their country.
Ghanaian military ruler Jerry Rawlings later opened the Ghana-Togo border and Togo was left with no choice but to open their border with the Republic of Benin. Ghanaian refugees were very happy because their could finally return home. The Ghanaian President paid a visit to some of them after returning home, assuring them that his government would do everything to assist them and help them get on their feets.
Nigeria and Ghana remain very good friends to this very day, they have looked past their differences and they are seen as one of the closest allies in Africa.
According to Teslim O. Omipidan
“History should not be used as an instrument of revenge but rather as a tool for preventing future mistakes.”