Wanted Ivorian politician, Guillaume Soro refused entry into Ghana
With an international arrest warrant hanging over his head, opposition presidential candidate in the 2020 elections in Cote d’Ivoire, Guillaume K. Soro was refused entry into Ghana Monday December 23, 2019.
Ivorian authorities accused Soro of planning to undermine the authority of the state and for laundering about €2 million, and prosecutors issued an international arrest warrant for him declaring him wanted.
The 47-year-old Soro who once served as Ivorian Prime Minister and later Speaker of the National Assembly was on his way to Abidjan from Europe when he received news that he was wanted for the listed offences and his private jet made a detour to Accra. After landing however, Ghanaian authorities refused him entry. Unhappy about the refusal to grant him entry into Ghana Soro took to Twitter Friday December 27, 2019 to express his frustration with the Ghanaian President.
“On the tarmac of the airport of Accra the pilot informed me that I couldn’t get out of the plane. The Ghanaian authorities refused to receive me on their soil. Mister President as an African leader do you think that the Country of Kwame Nkrumah should,” he tweeted.
@NAkufoAddo On the tarmac of the airport of Accra the pilot informed me that I couldn’t get out of the plane. The Ghanaian authorities refused to receive me on their soil. Mister President as an African leader do you think that the Country of Kwame Nkrumah should
— Guillaume K. Soro (@SOROKGUILLAUME) December 27, 2019
He went on to say the President of Ghana is his friend mentioning that he was friends with Abedi Pele, the former football legend as well.
@NAkufoAddo do that to an ecowas citizen. I’m really flabbergasted. I learned that the former President of #CI Felix Houphouët-Boigny welcomed you when you were in need. I called our common friend #AbediPele and he was really ashamed and sorry. God bless Africa.
— Guillaume K. Soro (@SOROKGUILLAUME) December 27, 2019
“…Mr. President the 23rd December my plane was in danger and so my life in the sky of Ghana,” he added.
@NAkufoAddo ( International Working Group) and looking for peace in my country at that time. You and me are friend of #AbediPele the Ghanaian famous football player. Mister President the 23rd of December my plane was in danger and so my life in the sky of Ghana 🇬🇭.
— Guillaume K. Soro (@SOROKGUILLAUME) December 27, 2019
He also reminded the President of Ghana that he used to visit him in the city of Buake and that he was also once received in Abidjan by the Late President Felix Houphouet-Boigny when he, Akufo-Addo was in trouble in Ghana.
According to a report by Jeune Afrique masked security officials raided the offices of Soro’s Generations and People in Solidarity (GPS) party at approximately 4pm (GMT) on Monday, 23 December and arrested fifteen people, including GPS spokesperson and Soro’s advisor, Alain Lobognon, Soro’s brother, Simon Soro, and director of protocol, Souleymane Kamagaté.
The President of Ghana has not responded to the tweets. A check on his Twitter handle shows that the last time he tweeted was on December 13, 2019.
Soro was instrumental in the conflict in 2011 that led to the removal of Laurent Gbagbo following an electoral dispute. Soro led the rebel forces that allied with Alassane Ouattara in the fight against the government forces in 2011.
By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi
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