ABC News says it has intercepted documents which suggest that a piece of land housing the Nigerian High Commissioner and purported to belong to the Osu Stool had been fully paid for by the High Commission in December 2000.

On Friday, June 19, 2020, armed men stormed the residence of the Nigerian High Commissioner at West Ridge in Accra with bulldozers and destroyed some structures on the property.

Though Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the act and opened investigations into it, Osu Traditional Council insisted that the land on which the said building stood belonged to the Osu stool, accusing the Nigerian High Commission of trespassing.

The statement signed by the head of the Osu Traditional Area, Nii Okwei Kinka Dowuona VI, further alleged that the High Commission “to date does not hold in its possession any documentation on the parcel of land.”

But documents in possession of ABC News prove otherwise.

Receipts and letters available to ABC News reveal that the High Commission paid Fifty Million Cedis (GHC 50,000,000) in settlement of development charges, Eight Million Cedis (GHC 8,000,000) for ground rent settlement and Three Hundred and Thirty Million Cedis (GHC 330,000,000) for the replacement of 2 bungalows demolished on the site.

The receipts signed by the Lands Commission also shows that payments of the above-mentioned amounts were made to Standard Chartered bank.

ABC News, Ghana