Police say Bobbie Ansah refused to honour invitations
Accra FM presenter accused of publishing false news
The Ghana Police Service has clarified the circumstances under which a presenter with Accra-based Accra FM, Kwabena Bobbie Ansah, was arrested on Thursday, February 10, 2022.
According to a statement from the Police Service, the presenter was arrested in connection with an alleged case of publication of false news and offensive conduct.
The statement further said that the arrest only became necessary after the presenter refused to honour invitations from them.
"Mr Kwabena Bobbie Ansah of Accra FM was arrested yesterday, February 10, 2022, by the Accra Regional Police Command in connection with an alleged case of publication of false news and offensive conduct.
"His arrest became necessary after he turned down several invitations from the Police to him and others involved in the case to assist with investigations," the statement said.
It further stated that a full statement on the case would be communicated in due course.
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Earlier, GhanaWeb reported that Kwabena Bobie Ansah, host of 'The Citizen Show' on Accra FM, had reportedly been arrested by persons purported to be National Security operatives after his show on Thursday, February 10, 2022.
According to Kwame Kwakye, the producer of the show, he cannot really tell what occasioned the incident that happened close to the station's premises at around 10.00 pm.
"We have no idea of where he has been sent to," Kwame Kwakye said in a Facebook live stream after the incident.
"As a journalist, he's done with his job and on his way home to rest, but he has been picked up by some unknown officers. Kwabena Bobie Ansah has been arrested; his phone is off. Before we signed out of the show, his phone was on, but when he was arrested and was put in a vehicle, being taken to some unknown destination, his phone has been switched off. Where they are taking him, we don't know, but we can say on authority that he has been arrested...," Kwakye added.
"We finished the show at 10.00 pm, and he [Bobie Ansah] stepped out, so I followed him to pick his car and hand it over to him in order for him to go home. Because when we close, he exercises around the junction before he goes home, but as of now, we don't know where Bobie Ansah is.
"...when I was approaching the junction with Bobie Ansah's car and looking at the scene were the police and National Security [with] about four cars, where they arrested him, put him in their vehicle [sic] and drove off. If he was a criminal who had killed someone, would he be arrested this way? It is very sad!" he stressed.
Odansini Odilia, another presenter of the station, described the incident as a 'horror' movie.
"I call the whole scenario an ambush," Odilia said.
She explained she was on her way to the station to prepare for her show, which is after the Citizen show when she "saw one black car drive past. A second car, ash in colour, stopped by me and looked at me suspiciously. The last car is the one we met at the gate. That was when I asked passers-by why the cars were moving around in such fashion, only to find out that he [Kwabena Bobie Ansah] had been arrested.
"It wasn't the right procedure to arrest him. He was not rightfully arrested," she added. "I didn't see any policeman around; I didn't see any police car around, so, if my colleague was arrested, he was arrested through one of the National Security whatever, whatever..."
Although there has not been any official communication about his arrest, an Accra-based Citi FM reports that the presenter may have been picked up over a post he made on his Facebook timeline.
In the said post, Ansah alleged, the "current judiciary is corrupt and made up of crooks and criminals led by a corrupt Chief Justice who's struggling to purge himself of a $5 million thievery allegation."
Meanwhile, Joy News sources indicate that the journalist has been sent to the Nima Police Station after he was picked up from the premises of Accra FM.
This brings to three the number of journalists arrested by security officials this year.
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