I get 'headache' when people say Nigerians are criminals, corrupt – Igbo king

The King of the Igbo community in Ghana, Eze Dr Chukwudi Jude Ihenetu, has debunked the assertion that Nigerians living in Ghana are corrupt and responsible for the crimes in the country.

There is an assertion in Ghana that Nigerians are responsible for most of the country’s criminal activities such as prostitution, cybercrime and armed robbery.

However, speaking on Ghana Yensom on Accra100.5FM on Monday, 10 May 2021, the Igbo king told show host Kwame Appiah Kubi that: “Nigerians are not crime committers”, adding: “That impression that people create that Nigerians are crime committers, I will always disagree on that”.

“In every 12, there must be a Judas. Ghanaians are not 100 per cent holy and the same as Nigerians. Even America being the most developed nation in the world, there are lots of corrupt people there also, so, everywhere in the world, there is corruption”.

“[In] a country of over 200 million people, do you expect everyone not to be corrupt?” he quizzed.

Dr Ihenetu explained that Nigerians only work hard to make more money and that has been misunderstood as corruption.

“The way we work hard intimidates people, so, people will say Nigerians are crime committers. No. In every 12, there must be Judas”, he noted.

“Also, whenever somebody is working hard ahead of someone else around him, the other person will never feel happy, he will look at you and wonder” ‘This guy, where is he making money from? This guy, we started selling pure water with him; how come he now has about 20 bags and mine is still two bags?’”

“The skills I implemented may not be the same you implemented, the ideas I implemented might not be the one you implemented, the way I packaged might not be the same way you packaged yours, so, I’m telling you Nigerians are not corrupt”, the king insisted.

“If Nigerians pay their way out, Ghanaians also pay their way out and Americans also pay their way out and governments also pay their way out”, he underscored.

To him, “it is the same way we also pay our way out not only with money but negotiations”.

“Life is all about negotiations, so, when you say Nigerians are corrupt, that word particularly gives me headache, I don’t want to hear that Nigerians are corrupt. No, Nigerians are not corrupt.”