Ebo Buckman, the senior Communication Officer for the Movement for Change (MFC), has characterized the arrest of Hopeson Adorye as an act of witch-hunting, contradicting the widely held belief that the arrest was a legitimate enforcement of the law.
He noted that given the context surrounding Adorye’s arrest, it is clear that political motivations are at play, stressing that Adorye’s recent outspoken criticism of the government and its policies has made him a target, and his arrest appears to be a politically driven move to silence him.
“Certainly, he’s not found himself in the good books of the government and so if you really know what has been happening, then you will agree with us. Indeed, this is a political witch-hunting and also a diversionary tactic to take our minds off the main issues that are making rounds in the political space”.
Ebo Buckman
However, Haruna Mohammed, the Deputy General Secretary of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), dismissed the claims made by Buckman and the MFC as baseless and exaggerated.
He emphasized that the NPP is a political party that respects and upholds the law, and therefore, the allegations of political motivation behind Adorye’s arrest are unfounded.
As such, he stressed that Hopeson Adorye’s arrest was not a result of forced confession as he was not made to admit to using dynamite to intimidate voters in the Volta region. “We have not put those statements in his mouth” he added.
Furthermore, he considered Adorye’s remarks as dangerous and commended the police and security agencies for their prompt response, investigation, and subsequent legal action.
“We did not send him to Makola or any other place to beat him. He has been sent to the appropriate law agencies to be dealt with in terms of the law. So I don’t believe that it is a matter of witch-hunting. I don’t know what is with him that the NPP is going to witch-hunt him. We are not perturbed… The law is taking its course”.
Haruna Mohammed
Moreover, the NPP Secretary stated that the party and government have no influence over the law and its enforcement, emphasizing that the arrest of Adorye is not considered a party issue.
Adorye Released on Bail, MFC to Discuss Next Steps
Furthermore, Ebo Buckman indicated that Hopeson Adorye has been released on bail after fulfilling all the necessary conditions, and the Movement for Change (MFC) will convene a meeting to determine its next steps regarding the case.
“But as I have said this is clearly politically motivated and diversionary tactics… you know the SML issue going round”. Ebo Buckman
Buckman pointed out that the government will likely deny all the allegations he has leveled against it, consistent with their usual practice, expressing no surprise at the NPP’s predictable denial. “When they do something, they are caught and they deny it”, he stressed.
Furthermore, Buckman disclosed that the MFC had received advance information from security sources about Hopeson Adorye’s impending arrest weeks prior, maintaining that the arrest was a politically motivated persecution by the government.
“So we were expecting something like that all along… Those of us who have been doing politics for long, we understand some of these things”.
Ebo Buckman
Haruna Mohammed countered that Buckman’s argument is flawed, stating that Adorye’s arrest was a result of his own irresponsible public comments made on the radio. “The right to speech is not the right to irresponsibility”, he added.
He argued that the MFC has no grounds to accuse the NPP of witch-hunting Adorye, a former party member, for criticizing the government.
As such, Haruna argued that Adorye himself was responsible for the dynamite explosion in the Volta Region, not the NPP, as Adorye had claimed, and stressed that the NPP did not instruct anyone to carry out such an act.
READ ALSO: KPMG Report Reveals GH¢1.4bn Disbursement to SML, Contradicting Akufo-Addo’s Statement
