Former Ghana President Mahama Visits, Poses for Pictures With ‘Arrested’ Anyidoho

March 28, 2018
Citifmonline

Embattled Deputy General Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Koku Anyidoho, appeared to be in high spirits when former President, John Mahama visited him at the Bureau of National Investigation’s headquarters.

This was a day after Mr. Anyidoho was detained for making treasonable comments.

Mr. Mahama was pictured with Anyidoho, along with Julius Debrah, who served as his Chief of Staff; the NDC General Secretary, Johnson Asiedu Nketia and former Attorney General, Betty Mould Iddrisu, at the BNI headquarters

It is unclear how Mr. Mahama was able to gain access to Mr. Anyidoho and got the opportunity to take pictures with him.

Mr. Mahama’s recent comments on social media suggest that former President did not approve of the way Mr. Anyidoho was taken into custody by the police.

Earlier on Wednesday, Mr. Mahama criticised the Police for what he described as their ‘high-handed’ responses to “innocent” Ghanaians who massed up at the Police Headquarters on Tuesday night in solidarity with Koku Anyidoho.

In a Facebook post, the former President chided the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) and President Akufo-Addo for the manner in which Mr. Anyidoho was arrested and later charged with treason.

He, however, did not make mention of the comments made by Mr. Anyidoho which have been widely condemned and considered treasonable.

As a party that prides itself in the non-criminalization of speech, with a self-acclaimed human rights activist as President, the arrest of K. Anyidoho with armed men in the middle of a press event is obviously disproportionate. Moreso, the high-handed police response to innocent citizens waiting at the CID HQ is condemnable.

Building the treason case

Police have since been given permission to seize all electronic devices belonging to Mr. Anyidoho

A warrant from the High Court, sighted by Citi News, ordered that electronic gadgets including laptops, iPhone and iPads, believed to store information related to treason in the premises of Koku Anyidoho and his supposed agents, are to be seized to aid the police investigation.

This development follows the CID’s request to Accra-based Happy FM to produce the official copy of tape on which the Koku Anyidoho is believed to have made the treasonable comments.

Mr. Anyidoho was picked up at the International Press centre on Tuesday to assist the police with investigations and spent Tuesday night in the custody of the police after being charged with treason.

His Oyarifa residence in Accra was also searched before he was moved from the police headquarters and sent to an unknown location after he was refused bail.

What Koku said

Koku Anyidoho, in the interview, suggested that President Nana Akufo-Addo will be overthrown because of the ratification of the controversial defence cooperation agreement between Ghana and the US.

He said the overthrow will be in the form of a “civilian coup d’etat”.

“There will be a civilian coup d’état. There will be a social revolution. We [NDC] are starting it on Wednesday. The movement is starting on Wednesday. Nana Addo will have sleepless nights. He will suffer diarrhoea. He said he wanted to be President, but we will make sure he will be fed up on the seat.”

The host of the show on which the comments were made, Kwame Affrifa, has also been invited by the police to aid in their investigations.
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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana