The Head of the security detail of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) 2016 flag bearer, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Captain Edmund Koda (retd), has denied claims that he was convicted of corruption and has also been placed on security alert since 2014.

He has, therefore, asked Ghanaians to ignore the claims by the Minister of Interior, Mr Prosper Bani, since “it is coming from a desperate government clutching at anything and everything to advance a dubious and ultimately embarrassing, self-defeating political agenda.”

This was contained in a statement issued signed by Nana Asante Bediatuo, Captain Koda’s lawyer.

According to the statement, the comment from Mr Bani was a deliberate attempt by the Mahama-led government to link the NPP and its 2016 flag bearer, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, to violence.




Background

Captain Koda is being investigated for bringing three South African ex-policemen to Ghana to train security detail linked with the New Patriotic Party flag bearer, Nana Akufo-Addo.

The suspects were accused of illegally training the NPP security officials. They were arrested, slapped with three charges and hauled before court.

The court granted the suspects bail but the Bureau of National Investigations defied the court’s order and kept the suspects in detention until they were deported back to South Africa even though the court case was still pending.

Captain Koda, who was also arrested for allegedly bringing the three suspects, had his fair share of tussle with the BNI. He was allegedly detained for 96 hours contrary to the dictates of the Constitution, which only allow for 48 hours of detention.

Last Monday, the Interior Minister issued a statement part of which described Captain Koda as a corrupt jailbreaker and a man who attempted to destabilise the state.

The statement in part said Capt Koda was arrested and jailed at the Ussher Fort prison for corruption in 1979 but he broke jail and sought asylum.

The statement also claimed Captain Koda was in 2014 involved in a civil unrest, an attempt to destabilise the state together with some Serbians.

Falsehood

Reacting to the corruption allegation, Nana Bediatuo said although Captain Koda was involved in the uprising of June 4, 1979 and was accused of having embezzled funds, he was acquitted and discharged after being tried twice on the same charges.

He stated that the Francois Commission cleared his client of all charges and simple check at the Supreme Court could have saved the Interior Minister from peddling falsehood.

Concerning him having been put on security alert, Nana Bediatuo said Captain Koda had nothing to do with Serbians and played no role in any civil insurrection.

Nana Asante Bediatuo said the charge of civil insurrection was treasonable and any serious National Security outfit would have investigated and brought the suspect to book.

He found it shocking that National Security would allow his client, a suspect of such a crime, to walk free for over two years and not bother to question him and only decided to bring this matter up in a statement.

“This is not the kind of conduct expected from a Minister of Interior. We are surprised that a high ranking member of government would lend himself to being used for this kind of propaganda. Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised.

“The Mahama government is obsessed with trying to tag the NPP, and, indeed, Nana Akufo-Addo, with violence, with no shred of evidence. Indeed, the terrorists and mercenaries which this government claimed had been imported by the NPP have been deported during the pendency of the case and without being subjected to trial,” he said.

Touching on the NPP’s 2016 flag bearer, he said Nana Akufo-Addo had spent his adult life fighting, not with weapons of destruction or war, but his courage, his patriotism, his mouth, his sense of justice, and his love for freedom, democracy and development in Ghana and that no amount of propaganda could take away that fact.

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Story: Graphic.com.gh