Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo
The embattled National Chairman of opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, has been arrested by a team of police officers in Accra.
He was arrested at the residence of a top member of NDC at Cantonments – his last hiding place.
His arrest follows an arrest warrant secured by the police from court to pick him after his refusal to honour an invitation from the law enforcement agency.
Armed with the arrest warrant, a team of cops traced the party chairman to Cantonment through intelligence.
Prior to his arrest, he remained elusive as the police tracked him from one area to the other until yesterday when his cup was full and he had no place to turn to.
He was quickly sent to his house, as part of police routine, to search his abode for telltale evidences in the investigation.
At press time yesterday, the police were yet to speak on the subject as media practitioners, hungry for news about the development, made incessant calls to their contacts for further details but to no avail.
It would be recalled that the Director General of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) COP/Ms Maame Tiwaa Addo-Danquah invited the party chairman to come and assist the police in an ongoing investigation into the spate of kidnappings and arson in the country.
A suspect being probed by the police is said to have mentioned the name of Mr Ofosu-Ampofo in connection with the occurrences. Under such circumstances, it behoved the police to invite him for a chat on the subject which they did.
The second invitation of Mr Ofosu-Ampofo has been controversial as the first – the latter already a subject in court for which he is currently on bail.
In the first case, he was invited by the police to assist the law enforcement agency following the leakage of an audio in which he was captured making remarks which threatened national security.
For instance, he unfolded the party’s strategies for next year’s elections, some of which included resorting to kidnappings, throwing invective at the clergy and attacking the integrity of the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission.
It took him close to a week before he finally turned himself in, sandwiched between NDC lawyers. He was eventually charged and granted bail.
In the latest episode as pointed out in a preceding paragraph, a suspect being investigated mentioned his name in connection with some criminal cases of national dimension. The invitation had NDC lawyers writing to say “Mr Ofosu-Ampofo won’t be honouring the invitation”.
It would appear that the NDC leadership had information about the police turning to the court to secure a warrant to arrest the party chairman. They preempted the action through a correspondence which they put out on social media, telling party supporters about the intention of the police.
Kakraba Essamoah, the National Communications Officer of the party, in the correspondence, asked party supporters to show solidarity with the party chairman whom the police intended arresting.
The refusal of the party chairman to honour the invitation could have stemmed from the elders of the party as evidenced from the statement read by Alhaji Iddrisu Mahama, one of the elders.
His speech was emphatic that the party chairman would not honour the invitation.
By A.R. Gomda