Don’t travel out of Ghana, submit your passports—Court told NDA CEO and others
Chief Executive Officer of the Northern Development Authority (NDA), Sumaila Abdul Rahman has been directed to submit his traveling document to the Tamale High court and make sure he complies not to travel out of Ghana till the determination of a case of alleged corruption against him and his two deputies and others. In a Meta post, the Office of the Special Prosecutor noted that all four accused persons pleaded not guilty to charges of corruption and have since been granted bail in the sum of 2 million Ghana cedis with sureties to justify with landed properties. According to the post, “The first accused person, Sumaila Abdul Rahman has been stopped from traveling out of Ghana till the determination of the case after he pleaded, he has a scheduled trip in relation to his work as Chief Executive Officer of NDA. Other accused persons are two deputies of NDA; Stephen Yir-Eru-Engmen and Patrick Seidu and the Chief Executive of A&QS Consortium Limited, Andrew Kuundaari”. The post stated. The case has, however, been adjourned to 28th February 2023 for Case Management Conference. Background It would be recalled that the Special Prosecutor 2022 started an investigation into corruption at the NDA after a written petition dated June 15, 2022, addressed to the Special Prosecutor by Martin Luther Kpebu, a private legal practitioner, requesting for an investigation into the operations of NDA and the actions of its Chief Executive and Board Chairman. “The complaint alleged that NDA awarded a contract to A&QS Consortium Limited (hereafter, A&QS) on 28 January 2020 for consultancy services for the supervision of some constituencies in the Upper West Region under the IPEP for the contract sum of Five Million Seven Hundred and Twenty Thousand cedis (GHC5,720,000.00). However, upon the exit of the then Acting Chief Executive who executed the contract, the contract sum was illegally increased to Ten Million Four Hundred Thousand cedis(GHC10,400,000.00) by the removal of the page containing the original figure of Five Million Seven Hundred and Twenty Thousand cedis (GHC5,720,000.00) and its replacement at page 25 clause 33.1 of the contract with a fresh page containing the bloated figure of Ten Million Four Hundred Thousand cedis (GHC10,400,000.00) to make it appear as if it is the contract executed by the previous Acting Chief Executive,” the report stated. The investigation was conducted over a period of six months, interviewing twenty persons over a period of four months before making of a move to prosecute.
Obasanjo was going to roast Atiku, I saved him—Tinubu.
Presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has said, he “rescued” Atiku Abubakar, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, presidential candidate from the hand of former President Olusegun Obasanjo. This came as the leaders and stakeholders of the APC, Akwa Ibom State chapter, reassured that they would deliver the state to Tinubu at the February 25 presidential poll. Speaking at party’s presidential rally held at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium, Uyo, Tinubu said Abubakar and his party were just about “stomach infrastructure. They don’t have a mandate, what they have is ice cream. It has melted. I am the one that rescued him from Obasanjo, who wanted to roast him like goat meat. “He ran away to Dubai and when the election came again, he came for stomach infrastructure. He came to Lagos. We rehabilitated him and gave him a ticket but he wasted it and used it to collect money. “He faced Obasanjo, faced Buhari and failed. He failed with Jonathan. He failed in all his subjects. “You better watch him before he starts selling the little palm trees that you have left. What we need to do is to develop our country. We have enough gas reservoirs in our land. “Akwa Ibom, you will not suffer again. That boy (Governor Emmanuel Udom) that brought Atiku here, that calls himself governor, tell him enough is enough. He lived in my backyard in Lagos. If not that we are one, I’d have driven him home.” Earlier, addressing a crowd of supporters, former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs and candidate of the APC for Akwa Ibom North West (Ikot Ekpene) senatorial district, Senator Godswill Akpabio appealed to the party members and supporters to ensure they get their Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) in order to return the party to power through Tinubu. Meanwhile, the PDP Presidential Campaign, in a statement by Special Assistant on Public Communications to the PDP candidate, Atiku Abubakar, Mr. Phrank Shaibu, while reacting to Tinubu’s comment, said: “The constant gaffes of Tinubu, which started as a comic relief is slowly becoming a tragedy, an embarrassment to Nigeria, Africa’s largest nation. “Since Tinubu declared his intention to contest, he has made over 20 gaffes publicly. “These gaffes, which have provided online skit makers with comic content, are no longer a laughing matter but a tragic embarrassment to a nation in dire need of salvation. “In his latest rally in Akwa Ibom State, Tinubu said he made Atiku Abubakar the Senate President when it is on record that Atiku has never contested any legislative election before. For publication please kindly contact us on +233256336062 or Email apexnewsgh@gmail.com
NDC: Haruna, Muntaka not cooperating with Speaker of Parliament–Asiedu Nketia
Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, the just-elected National Chairman of the National Democratic Congress, (NDC) has once again justified the party’s decision to reshuffle the leadership caucus of the Minority in Parliament. Mr. Asiedu Nketia at a Press Conference in the United Kingdom openly said, changing the party leadership in Parliament became necessary because the Minority leadership was not in a good working relationship. He claimed that the minority leaders had issues cooperating with the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin. He said: “Why did we struggle to get an NDC person elected as a Speaker of Parliament? There are certainly some advantages and those advantages can be tapped into when your leadership is cooperating with the Speaker. So we cannot have a situation where NPP leadership is cooperating with the Speaker, and our NDC leadership has challenges cooperating with the Speaker.” “And if you are given a party whose leadership in Parliament is not working together, what will you do, you make the changes, or you resign, and I’m not about to resign,” The chairman stated. The comments by the National Chairman of the NDC come after the Council of Elders of the NDC admonished aggrieved members of the party, Members of Parliament and party leadership to refrain from further public pronouncements following the change in Minority leadership. In a statement issued on Saturday, January 28, 2023, the Council assured to come up with an early and principled resolution on the matter. The NDC last week reshuffled its leadership in Parliament replacing Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu with Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson. Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, MP for Ellembelle also replaced Ketu North MP, James Klutse Avedzi as the Deputy Minority Leader while Kwame Governs Agbodza replaced Asawase MP, Muntaka Mubarak as the Minority Chief Whip. But several NDC MPs have described the leadership changes as undemocratic and deeply worrying after they claimed they were not consulted before the change. Meanwhile, over 70 MPs subsequently signed a petition to reject the decision of the party. For publication please kindly contact us on +233256336062 or Email apexnewsgh@gmail.com
I am still a member of the NDC and not even …
The former Deputy General Secretary of the NDC and President of the Atta Mills Institute, Koku Anyidoho has confirmed he is still a member of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC). Apexnewsgh.com report In a letter to Mr. Anyidoho sighted by Citi News, the NDC said it found Mr. Ayindoho guilty of “misconduct and anti-party behaviour.” “The Functional Executive Committee (FEC) acting in compliance of article 48 (1) of the NDC Constitution unanimously adopted the report and accepts full responsibility for your expulsion from the Party,” the letter added. Mr. Anyidoho had been serving a suspension that begun on February 8, 2021, after his consistent criticism of the party Some NDC members had been complaining about Mr. Anyidoho’s conduct and called for him to be expelled. For instance, the Bono Regional Deputy Communications Officer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Eric Adjei, wrote to the party’s National Executive Committee asking for his expulsion. He had cited some tweets and news reports which showcased the former party executive’s critical stance towards the NDC. The NDC said Mr. Anyidoho cannot be “recognized as a member of the party and cannot carry [himself] as such.” Meanwhile, according to Mr. Anyidoho, he is an active member in good standing as far as National Democratic Congress is concerned and nobody, not even Asiedu Nketia can Unilaterally say he has sacked him from the NDC. The former Deputy Secretary said, he has his new registered membership card and he also paid his dues. “I am still a full member of the National Democratic Congress, in the new registration, I have registered in my constituency in Kanigbe in the Ho Central constituency in the Volta Region. In my branch, I have my membership card, I paid my dues. Nobody, I repeat nobody certainly not even Asiedu Nketia can Unilaterally say he has sacked Koku Anyidoho from the NDC. It is wishful thinking of the National Democratic Congress”. He spoke at A1radio monitored by Apexnewsgh.com on Tuesday, January 31, 2023. For publication please kindly contact us on +233256336062 or Email apexnewsgh@gmail.com