No show at CID headquarters over Ofosu Ampofo’s leaked tape

The planned meeting between the National Chairman of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo and the police over the leaked audio in which Mr Ampofo is said to be conspiring with party members to harm political opponents did not happen on Thursday morning.

Graphic Online’s Emelia Ennin Abbey gathered that the meeting did not come on because Mr Ofosu Ampofo was yet to receive the formal invitation letter from the CID as of Thursday morning.

The CID had asked Mr Ofosu Ampofo who has come under fire over comments he allegedly made in the secret recording to report at the headquarters at 10am Thursday.

On the recording, a voice believed to be Mr Ampofo's is heard urging people to take the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Mrs Jean Adukwei Mensa to the 'cleaners'.

The voice also endorsed verbal attacks on the National Peace Council Chairman, Most Rev. Prof. Emmanuel Asante.

The audio tape also suggests that abductions and kidnappings could be used to silence political opponents.

Following that, the CID announced on Wednesday that it had initiated investigations into the matter and has consequently sent an invitation to Mr Ampofo.

• Read also: Police invite Ofosu Ampofo over leaked audio

No show

Graphic Online’s Emelia Ennin Abbey reported from the CID headquarters that journalists from various media houses waited at vantage points with their cameras to capture Mr Ofosu Ampofo’s arrival at the CID headquarters on Thursday morning.

Operation vehicles of the Formed Police Unit (FPU) including water tankers were seen positioned at vantage points with police personnel in full gears ready for operational duties at the entrance of the CID headquarters.

However, three hours after the scheduled meeting, there was still no show amidst suggestions that Mr Ofosu Ampofo has decided not to honour the police invitation.

Police sources told Graphic Online's Emelia Ennin Abbey that the invitation letter was sent to the house of Mr Ofosu Ampofo but the private security officer at the entrance refused to accept it.

The police later took the letter to the NDC head office at Adabraka in Accra but Mr Ofosu Ampofo was not available to receive it and so a copy was sent via WhatsApp to which the source said there was an indication that, he had received and read the message.

Legal team

However, at about 2:30pm, two members of the NDC legal team, Mr Victor K. Adawudu and Abraham Amaliba visited the CID headquarters to meet top police officers.

After the closed-door meeting, the lawyers told journalists who were waiting outside that, Mr Ofosu Ampofo was yet to receive the invitation letter and that, they were there to verify from the police if they had indeed invited Mr Ofosu Ampofo following information they had picked from various media houses.

After that meeting, the police sent the invitation letter to the NDC headquarters and a police source confirmed that the office had confirmed receiving the letter.

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NDC says tape is concocted and false

Meanwhile, the NDC has described as concocted and false the alleged tape purported to be the voice of Mr Ofosu Ampofo, talking about what led to the party’s decision to withdraw its polling agents from the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election on December 31, 2019, among other matters.

In a statement signed by its Communications Officer, Mr Sammy Gyamfi, and released by the Communications Bureau of the party, the NDC dismissed the authenticity of the said tape and accused the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and some members of the government of being behind its making and circulation.

It, therefore, urged the public to disregard the said audio which had gone viral and “treat all of its content with the contempt it deserves”.

NPP reacts

But, in a press conference earlier yesterday, the NPP described the alleged comments by Mr Ofosu Ampofo as “bad and ugly”.

The Director of Communications of the NPP, Mr Yaw Buabeng/Asamoah, who addressed the press conference, urged “right thinking members of the NDC” to distance themselves from the “shameful leadership”.

He advised those in the party who believed in ideology to demand resignations, stating that “all those culpable must account to the NDC and to the nation, so that they restore their moral right to participate in the decent politics of this country”.

Background

A leaked tape purported to be the voice of Mr Ofosu Ampofo in a meeting with party communicators said: “We’re going to take her [EC boss] to the cleaners.”
“As for the EC chair, we must wage a relentless war on this EC chair. Me, she doesn’t want to see my face,” Mr Ofosu Ampofo is alleged to have said.

In the tape, he also gave his blessing to the party communicators to insult Rev. Prof. Emmanuel Asante, the Chairman of the National Peace Council.
“For the first time, I’ll endorse insulting the National Peace Council Chair,” he said.
The alleged meeting between Mr Ofosu Ampofo and NDC communicators was aimed at planning strategies ahead of the 2020 elections.

Inconsistent

In its statement, the NDC said the contents of the tape were inconsistent with Mr Ofosu Ampofo’s character and track record, adding that it did not reflect the values he had always stood for.

“The maliciously depraved and clearly doctored tape has been contrived by some devious elements in the NPP and the government to undermine the NDC and its National Chairman,” it stated.

It, however, indicated that its position on the issues that were alluded to in the alleged audio were matters of public record and that it would not resort to a secret meeting to plot the events captured on the tape.

Divert attention

The NDC further accused the NPP of utilising the said tape to divert attention from an impending exposé on “galamsey” by the investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas, which the NDC alleged had some members of the Akufo-Addo government implicated.

“The NDC will not be swayed by such diversionary tactics but will stay focused on highlighting the present levels of despondency among the Ghanaian people, occasioned by the bad policies and economic mismanagement of the government,” it stated.