According to him, the victims paid 400 to 500 cedis (approximately N26,000 to N33,000) to the company but got nothing.
Over 400 Nigerians have been arrested in Bolga, Upper West Region of Ghana after being falsely accused of rape and dealing in hard drugs, SaharaReporters has learnt.
The source, who is also a victim, told SaharaReporters that he was arrested alongside some other Nigerians who had registered as network marketers under a company called Qnet, which has a base in Ghana.
He said they had been invited to Ghana by the company and its collaborators in Nigeria who deceive people by telling them that there is employment and jobs that will pay $250 (N112,500) a week in Ghana.
According to him, the victims paid 400 to 500 cedis (approximately N26,000 to N33,000) to the company but got nothing.
He said, “We were about 400 youths arrested by the Ghana Immigration officers and we were taken to the Aflao border (border between Ghana and Togo). We were charged with rape but we came to Ghana to do an affiliate marketing job under Qnet.
“They also accused us of being involved in other illegal jobs such as internet fraud and sale of hard drugs. In fact, they said all we do is illegal but we came as marketers and some of us have been working here legally. Some are not even part of those deceived by Qnet.
“We were kept on a field at Aflao. They brought a canopy for us to stay under. Some people lost money, phones and valuables while being there. We were arrested on April 25, 2021. We are sad, aggrieved because we were charged as criminals when we are not.
“The update is that they have said we can go if we can come up with N20,000. They actually asked us to call our people, that if we could get N20, 000, they would put us on a bus that would take us back to Nigeria. We have been begging the Nigerian government to come and get us from here because some of us don't have that N20, 000. The immigration officers are even tired of us, they have been begging us to call our people to send money so we can go.
“But what they told us is, that after now, if we want to return to their country legally, all we will need is just N 3, 500 to process all the papers so we can live and work legally.
“Federal Government should come to our aid.”
Meanwhile, the President of the Nigerian Union of Traders Association in Ghana, Chukwuemeka Nnaji, told the News Agency of Nigeria on Monday that the Nigerians were arrested by Ghanaian immigration and moved to the Aflao border without proper investigation to ascertain how they got to that country.
He said, “This is not acceptable; we accord respect to the Ghanaian authorities but sometimes they do not reciprocate.
“Those people were victims of a Ghana-based company ‘Qnet’, with collaborators in Nigeria who deceive people by telling them that there is employment in Ghana and that the job will pay $250 a week.
“They collect between 400 and 500 cedis from them and then they get nothing. Nobody knows how they do it, but they smuggle in people from Nigeria to Ghana.
“Unsuspecting Nigerians come to Ghana and they become stranded. Government needs to take urgent measures,” Nnaji said.