A Nigerian who attempted to acquire a Ghanaian Passport has been remanded in police custody by an Accra Circuit Court.
Don Onovu Donny, aka Don Ofori Donny, was on August 19, 2019 arrested at the passport office in Accra and handed over to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service for investigation.
At the time of his arrest, the accused had on him a Ghanaian Voter ID card, a Nigerian National ID card as well as a Ghanaian ECOWAS card – all bearing his names and pictures. He is said to have confessed to the police that he is a Nigerian and not a Ghanaian.
Onovu Donny is facing four counts of false declaration to acquire Ghanaian ID card, three counts of defrauding by false pretences and one count of attempt to commit crime.
He pleaded not guilty to all the charges and was remanded by the court to reappear on September 30, 2019.
The prosecution led by ASP Sylvester Asare told the court that officials of the passport office on August 19, during their routine profiling, suspected the accused to be a Nigerian and subsequently reported the matter to the police for investigations.
He said the accused at the time of his arrest told the police that a woman at the Madina Urban Council assisted him to acquire a Ghanaian birth certificate.
He could, however, not assist the police with the identity of the said woman.
The prosecutor further stated that the accused acquired a Ghanaian birth certificate in 2013, and at the time of doing so, he told officers he was a Ghanaian.
ASP Asare stated that it is this fraudulent birth certificate that the accused used in acquiring the Ghanaian Voter ID and ECOWAS ID cards.
He said it was the same fraudulent birth certificate that he intended using to acquire a Ghanaian passport when he was arrested.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak