Probe Mahama, Naabu over bribery claims – Akufo-Addo urged

President-elect Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has been called upon to thoroughly investigate an alleged attempted bribery of the Northern regional chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Daniel Bugri Naabu, by President John Mahama and his brother Ibrahim.

It is recalled that in the lead-up to the December 7 presidential and parliamentary elections, Mr Bugri Naabu, through Mustapha Hamid, spokesperson to Mr Akufo-Addo, alleged that the president and his brother had offered him GHS 500,000 cash and a brand new Mitsubishi V6 to resign from the NPP and portray Nana Akufo-Addo as someone who hated Northerners in order to sway the people of the three northern regions to vote against the NPP.

Mr Naabu claimed he accepted the bribe only to use them as evidence against Mr Mahama.

But a statement issued by Thomas S.K Sampana, Convener of the Coalition of NPP Youth Network in the Northern Region, released on Friday, December 23, said: “These are part of several moves by the NDC to dent and tag the NPP government as a corrupt administration. We are, therefore, calling on the leadership of the NPP to, as a matter of urgency, refer Mr Bugri Naabu’s alleged bribery scandal in which he was given a brand new car and some amount of money by the office of the outgoing President to the Ghana Police Service for investigation. We are also appealing to leadership of the NPP to set up a committee within the party to investigate and make public their findings on the bribery scandal in which Mr Daniel Bugri Naabu was named.

It added: “Furthermore, we are appealing to leadership of the NPP to investigate an alleged report, which is circulating on social media about the involvement of Mr Bugri Naabu in some tribal bigotry in the north, which sought to create some tribal tensions between some ethnic groups in the Northern Region. We are serving notices of petition to the NPP National Executive Committee (NEC), which has the constitutional mandate to listen to our concerns immediately after the swearing in ceremony of the president-elect.

“We are also putting up a statement of concern which will be forwarded to the party’s national disciplinary committee for hearing. Lastly, we are appealing to leadership of the NPP and the president-elect to distance Mr Daniel Bugri Naabu from some critical decision until he is investigated and cleared by the party and the security service of Ghana."