A 47-year-old Nigerian woman and her son were recently convicted and sentenced for their involvement in an attempt to get Ghanaian passports using Ghana cards at the Accra Passport Application Centre.
The first accused person, designer Obafemi Jephthah Kojo Shoga, reportedly required a passport so that he could visit his father in Canada. Prosecutors claim that the second accused person, Shoga’s Nigerian mother, Latifat Raji, got caught when she showed up to testify during the passport application process.
The Madina District Court told Shoga that he had to pay a fine of GHC6,000 or go to jail for five months, and he also had to spend a month in jail.
Latifat Raji, Shoga’s mother, was told she had to pay a fine of GHC2,400 or go to jail for a month if she didn’t pay it. She was also told she had to spend a month in jail.
Shoga was accused of making false statements in connection with an obligation placed on him, trying to obtain a Ghanaian passport through false declarations, and obtaining a Ghanaian National Identity Card through false declarations.
Raji, Shoga’s mother, was accused of using a fraudulent declaration to get a Ghanaian National Identity Card and of being in Ghana without a permit.
They pleaded guilty in court. According to the prosecution team led by Chief Superintendent of Immigration Adolf Aboagye-Asenso, Raji is Shoga’s mother, and she is a fashion designer in her own right. Shoga is 26 years old and from Nigeria.
The prosecution claims the convicted individuals were caught at the Accra Passport Application Centre at Tema Station when Shoga was in the middle of the Ghanaian passport application process.
It stated that officials suspected them of holding dual citizenship and referred them to the Ghana Immigration Service’s National Enforcement Section for investigation.
According to the birth certificate provided by the prosecution, Shoga claimed to have been born in Ghana to a mother named Latifat Raji.
Further investigation revealed that Shoga was born at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra to Nigerian parents, Olujimi Shoga, who resides in Canada, and Raji, who is also a Nigerian citizen.
The prosecution claimed that the information found on the Ghanaian birth certificate was fabricated.
