The Member of Parliament for Tamale Central, Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed, has expressed his dissatisfaction over demands for an apology from Oliver Barker-Vormawor over his bribery allegations post on social media.

He, however, acknowledged that once Oliver has rendered an apology, the issue should be laid to rest.

Speaking in an interview shared on X by GHOne TV on January 29, 2025, he said, "Well, he apologised and once he apologised, I think that is the end of the issue. I wasn't happy when they were asking that he apologise."

Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed firmly refuted claims of bribery allegations levelled against vetting committee members.

"I have been nominated to be vetted. Nobody has asked me to give anything. I'm not going to give anything. For me when I heard it, frankly speaking, I was a bit taken aback. Nobody and I have not even made any attempts to give it. I don't even have anything to give, you know. So, I think that we should end it there," he stated.

He acknowledged that everyone makes mistakes, especially in politics, and the true measure of a person is their ability to admit fault and seek forgiveness.

“Once he apologise for what he has done, we all err, I mean even in our engagement as politicians we do err. The strength of a man is when you make a mistake and you apologise. And for me that should be the end," Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed noted.

He also cautioned against misinformation on social media, urging the public to be mindful of rumors, saying, “We should be careful what we put on social media. We should be careful what we hear. There is a popular saying that rumors are said by enemies, spread by innocents and believed by fools. So it's not everything we hear that you should go ahead and talk about maybe perhaps he trusted the information he got and he went ahead to publish that on his Facebook account."

“It is very clear that nobody was giving any money. It is very clear that nobody demanded any money from anybody,” he added.



Background

During his appearance before the committee, Barker-Vormawor apologised for his post, which the committee members viewed as an attack on their reputation.

"I want to make it clear that my post was not meant to disparage any member of the committee. I did not intend to imply that committee members received or demanded bribes from any individual. For this reason, I apologise," he said.

He clarified, however, that a second post presented by the committee was not authored by him.

On January 24, 2025, Barker-Vormawor posted on social media, alleging that members of the committee receive money before approving ministerial nominees.

"So, all the money the ministerial appointees are being asked to pay to the Appointments Committee just to get approved, are those not affected by ORAL? Strange Republic," the post read.

Watch video of Murtala Mohammed below:

I wasn't happy when they asked Oliver Barker-Vormawor to apologise... - Murtala Mohammed (MP, Tamale Central)#GHOneNews #EIBNetwork #GHOneTV #NewsAlert @IBGlobe pic.twitter.com/OJE9vZsyo1

— GHOne TV (@ghonetv) January 29, 2025