Asiedu Nketia and Mahama not in good terms – Owusu Bempah alleges

Director of Communications for Ghana Gas Company Limited, Ernest Owusu Bempah, popularly known as Aboa Apapo, has claimed that all is not well between former president John Dramani Mahama and the General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress, Johnson Asiedu Nketia.

According to him, the party’s General Secretary is only pretending to be in good terms with its flagbearer because of his personal gains and mischievous agenda.

Speaking on Net 2 TV, the outspoken politician boldly said although there is a rift (which emanated from 2016) between the two, Asiedu Nketia is pretending to support the campaign of Mahama because of his money and nothing else.

Narrating how the issue transpired between the two, Owusu Bempah said “Asiedu Nketia has a big issue with John Mahama. He’s just pretending to support the campaign because John Mahama has money. Asiedu Nketia before 2016 elections had an issue with Mahama because the former President gave a contract awarded to him to his brother. So he has never been happy. They even took him out during the campaign time. This is what Asiedu Nketia says, he has the money so let him waste it.”

Furthermore, Owusu Bempah accused the former president of sponsoring the attempted coup plot at the President of the Republic with the sole aim of destabilising the country and taking power from Akufo-Addo.

According to him, Mahama is hungry for power and knowing very well he will lose the 2020 elections, is doing all he can to secure his position as the next president of the country.

“What shows NDC and Mahama know nothing about this coup? Look at NDC’s communicators and the things they say about the coup d’état and the line of communication shows they are defending it, to the extent that NDC lawyers have been called to defend those coup plotters. It’s a planned thing, if it were to happen in a different country, Mahama would have been picked up. Dr. Mac-Palm is one of the key people within the NDC so we don’t need a soothsayer to tell you that these people are behind it. The agenda is bringing us to this attention that, 2020 Mahama knows he’s not going to win the elections,” he revealed.

Cautioning Mahama and the NDC to tread carefully in what they do, Aboa Apapo said, “we’re giving them a warning that the things about to happen and the things we know and about to bring out will shock them.”



Background

Dr Mac-Palm, together with two others; Ezor Kafui and Bright Allan Debrah Ofosu, were on Friday, September 20 picked up by a joint team from Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) and the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) for plotting a coup against the presidency with the intent to destabilise the country.

Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, in a press release, revealed how state agencies detected and foiled the planned attack leading to the retrieval of several arms, explosive devices and ammunitions from Alajo and Bawaleshie in Accra and Dodowa respectively.

It explained that surveillance on the activities of the persons involved commenced in June 2018 when Dr Mac-Palm and Ofosu started organising a series of meetings at the Next Door Beach Resort, Teshie, and other locations in Accra, in furtherance of their objectives.

Following the alleged coup attempt, the three accused persons were on September 24 arraigned before the Kaneshie District Court and slapped with five charges.

The charges pressed against the suspects include the following;

1. Conspiracy to commit a crime – Manufacture of arms and ammunition without lawful authority.

2. Conspiracy to commit a crime – Possession of explosives and firearms without lawful authority.

3. Manufacture of firearms without lawful authority.

4. Manufacture of explosives and ammunition without lawful authority.

5. Possession of explosives and firearms.

The suspects have however been remanded in prison custody and are set to appear in court on October 9, 2019. A fourth suspect only named as Sulley is currently on the run.

Some military officers alleged to be involved in the case have also been caught and are facing interrogation.

Meanwhile, the lawyer for the accused persons, Victor Adawudu has persistently denied the involvement of his clients in the alleged crime, stressing “all of this is a set up to bring my client down.”