Shehu Sani, the former Senator representing Kaduna Central has said that African Countries are not known to grant exile status to opponents and critics of other African governments.
Speaking on Saturday following the appeal of Nigeria’s investigative journalist David Hundeyin who bared the alleged certificate forgery, $460,000 forfeited narcotics money, and Guinea citizenship passport, among others of President Bola Tinubu, made to the President of Ghana, Nana Akufo Addo to protect him and resist joining hands with the Nigerian government to send him back, Sani stated that African Government can only allow one to pass on transit or frame and imprison the person.
“David should be given all the protection he deserves from the Ghanaian authorities. But it should be noted that African countries don’t grant exile status to dissidents, opponents, or critics of other African Governments. They either allow one to pass on transit or ‘catch and handover’ to your country or if you prove too stubborn, they frame and imprison you.
His name is David, he should not fear the Lion’s Den, he should come back and face the Goliath.”
David’s asylum cover was blown when a Zimbabwean government spokesman Nick Mangwana disclosed it on X formerly known as Twitter after he was detained at Robert Mugabe International Airport, Harare Zimbabwe in July 2023 when he was due to have a speaking engagement after being invited by a Zimbabwean who is a member of the James Currey Foundation.
David, who had confirmed from the embassy the travel requirements before leaving Ghana for Zimbabwe wrote,
“I confirmed from the Zimbabwean embassy that I wouldn’t need a visa on account of my Ghanaian passport.
“They said as long as the airline was happy to recognize my Ghanaian refugee passport, they had no problem with recognizing it as a Ghanaian passport. It was up to the airline,” he added.
“I got to Harare and the next thing I knew, I was being denied entry and processed for removal for not having a visa.
“They claimed Zimbabwe does not recognize refugee passports as passports, and so the visa-free status of Ghanaian passport holders in Zimbabwe did not apply to me.”
According to David, several attempts are being made by the Nigerian government to coerce the Ghanaian government to cancel his permanent visa and illegally repatriate him to Nigeria, an act which he said in the viral video that he will not survive.
Also, David who said he has no regret for the path he took in exposing the truth in journalism reminded the Ghanaian government of the law of refoulement which guarantees no one should be returned to a country where they would face torture, cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment or punishment and other irreparable harm.
