Martin Kpebu, a private legal practitioner, has criticised former Attorney General, Godfred Yeboah Dame’s concerns over a fair trial in the case involving former Chief Executive Officer of the National Food Buffer Stock Company (NAFCO), Hanan Abdul-Wahab Aludiba.

Reacting to Hanan’s rearrest in an interview on TV3’s Ghana Tonight on July 6, 2026, Martin Kpebu challenged Godfred Dame’s position, citing past instances where he opposed travel requests by accused persons despite court applications before him.

Kpebu specifically cited the case involving retired Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Dr Benjamin Agordzo, who was standing trial in the alleged coup plot case involving the Republic v. ACP Benjamin Agordzo and others to make his point.

“I think that, to be fair, Dame should not refer to his conduct whilst he was in office, when dealing with Hanan’s case. Otherwise, then he's digging up all the dead bodies.

“I am one practical or concrete example of a lawyer who was in a case in which Dame opposed DCOP Dr Benjamin Agordzo’s travel. He was travelling to go and do training. At that time, there was the coup plotters’ case. That was the Republic versus MacPalm and nine others and DCOP Benjamin Agordzo was prevented from travelling,” he stated.

Kpebu stressed that although Dame was not solely responsible for decisions taken while he served as Attorney General, he was actively involved in the prosecution of the case.

“I’m not giving ultimate responsibility to Godfred Dame because he was Attorney General, but the case is he was actually a lawyer in the case. He was leading the prosecution as well,” he added.

He argued that if the prosecution had supported Dr Agordzo’s request to travel, it would have been difficult for the trial court to reject the application.

“If they had agreed, the trial judge would have found it difficult to refuse because they would have been looking at the three judges. They would have found it almost impossible to refuse,” Kpebu said.

He also pointed to the controversial audio recording involving Dame and businessman Richard Jakpa in the ambulance procurement trial, saying it also raised questions about fair trial principles.

“The infamous Jakpa tape comes to play. Godfred Dame was caught on tape saying that he had no case against Jakpa and Ato Forson, but that especially for Ato Forson, he was being pressed to get a conviction at all costs so that there would be a by-election,” he alleged.

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Kpebu said the examples showed why Dame should avoid making comments that could reopen discussions about his own conduct.

“Godfred Dame is giving an opportunity for people to constantly bring up his conduct. And of course, what he's complaining about relates to fair trials,” he said.

“There are other things we could refer to, but at least these two have played out publicly,” he added.

Deputy Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Dr Justice Srem-Sai, had earlier disclosed that Hanan was arrested at the Accra International Airport (AIA) on July 4, 2026, after investigators received information that he had allegedly attempted to withdraw funds from a frozen bank account before travelling to the UK.

The former NAFCO CEO is currently standing trial on charges of stealing and causing financial loss to the state.

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