Nigerian Meddles In Ghana Politics

Information reaching the Daily Guide newspaper indicates that a former Nigerian senator, David Brigidi-Saigha, is allegedly mobilizing the youth in the Jomoro Constituency of the Western Region and influencing them to join some political parties in the country. Even though the former senator is reported to have explained that he is just helping the youth in diverse ways, some people in the area are still of the opinion that the former Nigerian senator is influencing the youth with money to join a political party, particularly the National Democratic Congress (NDC). Daily Guide gathered that recently, about five known activists of the Convention People�s Party (CPP) in the Jomoro Constituency were picked up from Jomoro to Accra by the former Nigerian senator to help them secure jobs, but were currently being seen in the constituency driving NDC vehicles. Daily Guide gathered that the senator, whose father is a Nigerian, and mother, a Ghanaian from Benyin in the Jomoro Constituency, had allegedly been given a job in the ongoing $850 million gas processing plant project at Atuabo. Other sources in the area also claimed that the Nigerian allegedly owned some of the big trucks that were being used to carry laterite to Atuabo to help in the filling up of the site for the gas processing plant, since the area was flood-prone. The paper learnt that last Saturday, the former Nigerian senator inaugurated a youth group he had formed in the constituency called �Friends of ZAYA� to purportedly address the needs of the youth in the area, irrespective of their political affiliations. However, sources said the group was just a conduit to recruit people for the NDC. Daily Guide learnt that the well-attended inauguration saw over 500 youth in the constituency attending. The senator was reported to have used the occasion to clear the air that he was not doing politics with the group. �Some people think I am doing politics with the youth group but I am here to make it clear to all of you that I just want to help the young ones in this area,� he was reported to have said. Present at the inaugural ceremony were Samia Yaaba Nkrumah, the CPP Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, who allegedly benefited from the man�s largesse, Joseph Ewoniah, NPP parliamentary candidate for the constituency and Wing Commander Anaman, the NDC candidate for the area. Speaking to Daily Guide, Augustine Nwolley, Jomoro constituency youth organiser of the NPP, confirmed the inauguration of the group last Saturday. He indicated that even though the group formed by the former senator was to help the youth in the area in different ways, as had been stressed by Senator Brigidi, rumours indicated that the Nigerian was doing some kind of politics with the group. �People are alleging that there is a hidden agenda the Nigerian is not making known to the youth but at the inauguration he made it clear that the youth group is not a political entity,� he noted. He, however, confirmed that five youth activists of the CPP in the constituency, who were sent to Accra to be secured jobs, allegedly by the Nigerian, were driving NDC cars in the constituency. �I think that is the reason why some people think that Senator Brigidi-Saigha is meddling in our politics which is not right,� he added.