The controversy surrounding the detention of eleven West African deportees in Ghana has taken a heated turn, with IMANI boss Franklin Cudjoe and activist-lawyer Osagyefo Oliver Barker-Vormawor weighing in on the matter.
In a social media post, Cudjoe ridiculed the decision of the deportees to sue the state for unlawful detention, writing; “I hear 11 of the deportees West Africans we accepted to host here are threatening us with legal action for unlawful detention.
“Why didn’t [they] jump out of the plane when they were coming over? Well, let’s just drop them anywhere between Nigeria and Cameroon so they find their way home. They should pray Boko Haram and their cousins are no longer active there. Buluaa sane! Nonsense! GbetorKoklo!”
Barker-Vormawor, who represents the deportees in court, was quick to fire back. According to him, the government had no legal or moral authority to accept the group in the first place.
“Persons who are seeking asylum in the US are bundled without their consent and sent to Ghana. These are refugees who have made clear their fears of being sent back to their respective countries.
“Then Ghana goes and signs some agreement with US to go for them. Did they tell you they want to come to Ghana?
“Did anyone in Ghana tell our Government we want them? Now they sue you for violating their rights and you say they should be grateful to you for coming them from the US? Ah! How?”
The back-and-forth comes as the Labour Division of the High Court in Accra prepares to hear urgent applications from the deportees on September 23, 2025.
The group, which includes nationals of Nigeria, Liberia, Togo, Gambia, and Mali, insist they were forcibly removed from detention centers in the United States, shackled, and flown to Ghana without their knowledge or consent.
On arrival, they claim, they were handed over to Ghanaian authorities and confined in a facility they believe to be military-run.
Through their affidavits, they argue that the detention breaches Ghana’s constitutional guarantees of personal liberty and administrative justice, while also violating the international principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits sending people back to countries where they face persecution or torture.
Barker-Vormawor has stressed that at least eight of his clients had already been granted protection under the U.S. Convention Against Torture, making their forced relocation to Ghana a direct affront to international law.
