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Claim: An X user, @lukurawa16703, has claimed that some Ghanaians have started destroying shops owned by Igbo people from Nigeria in Ghana.
Verdict: False. The video does not show Ghanaians destroying Igbo shops. It was taken out of context and depicts a community-led anti-drug operation in Sabon Zongo, Accra.
Full Text
On July 14, 2025, an X user, @lukurawa16703, shared a video showing a group of men allegedly destroying shops. The post was captioned: “Ghanaians now destroying Igbo shops” and has since gained over 2 million views, 1,000 retweets, and 4,000 likes.
The video itself contains an overlaid caption reading: “Ghana has started destroying Nigerian property in the country.”
The comment section of the claim has also seen some users calling for retaliation.
Due to the potential of this claim to incite ethnic tension and violence between Ghanaians and Nigerians, DUBAWA decided to investigate the claim.
Verification
DUBAWA employed the InVid video verification tool to extract key frames and conduct a reverse image search.
The search traced the original video to a TikTok post published in April 2025 with the caption: “Say No To Drugs.” Further investigation revealed that the footage was from a community-led campaign in Sabon Zongo, Accra, aimed at combating drug abuse in the area.
This anti-drug campaign, known as “Zongo Against Drugs,” was widely covered by media outlets including Channel One TV and Political Hazard.
DUBAWA contacted the campaign leaders, and spokesperson Alhaji Badamasi Awudu Assey referred to an official press statement dismissing the circulating claim as “entirely false and dangerously misleading.” He warned that misrepresenting the video could provoke hostility and violence, particularly against innocent Ghanaians residing in Nigeria.
The statement said, “For the record, the original video was recorded on Sunday, 20th April 2025, at Zongo Market at Sabon Zongo, a suburb of Accra. It captured an operation carried out against drug-related activities within the community. The structures being destroyed were makeshift wooden stalls illegally erected and used for drug sales. This clean-up exercise was done in collaboration with local authorities to sanitise the area and ensure the safety of residents.”
Conclusion
The claim that Ghanaians are targeting and destroying shops belonging to Igbo people is false. The video was taken out of context and does not depict xenophobic violence but rather a lawful anti-drug exercise by a local community in Accra.
