A storm of condemnation has trailed a Ghanaian man after he publicly declared that Nigerians had no right to hold a Yam Festival in Ghana, nor to even be called by their Nigerian names on Ghanaian soil.
In a video captured at a public gathering, the man fumed: “Ghana is not a land for you to be calling Amaechi (Nigerian name). Stop calling Amaechi on our soil. Stop it immediately. You are not a Ghanaian. And also, I’m told you say you want to do the Yam Festival. With all due respect to you and to the Igbo, cancel that Yam Festival. There is nothing called a Yam Festival in Ghana. You don’t farm yams in Ghana. You don’t have yams in Ghana. Go back to Nigeria and do your Yam Festival.”
His remarks, dripping with arrogance, have been widely condemned as ignorant and racist. Ghanaians themselves are divided, with citizens like Stanley Tetteh blasting the hate speech: “We Ghanaians celebrate our festivals abroad in America and the UK. So why prevent others? Do unto others as you want them to do to you.”
The hypocrisy is glaring. Ghanaians are known to parade their Kente and Azonto festivals in Europe, America, and even Nigeria, where they are not only tolerated but celebrated. Only recently, the revered Olu of Warri graced a Ghanaian festival as an honored guest. Yet some in Ghana now bear fangs against Nigerians doing the same.
As the philosopher Seneca once said, “What you condemn in others, you invite upon yourself.” By scorning Nigerians for practicing culture abroad, Ghana risks exposing its own cultural exports to ridicule.
Nigerians worldwide should see this not as an insult but as a testament: our culture is so powerful it unsettles the small-minded. The Yam Festival, rooted in Igbo tradition, is older than colonial borders and richer than any artificial gatekeeping. Culture knows no visa, and heritage cannot be confined by borders.
The world is watching, and history will remember who opened their arms and who built walls.
