Bugri Naabu, a former Northern Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has confirmed the details in the leaked tape of a plot to remove the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Dr George Akuffo Dampare.
The former NPP chairperson confirmed that he was the person in the tape being addressed by some senior personnel of the Ghana Police Service, who wanted the IGP removed.
In the said tape, one of the police officers was heard saying, “This IGP won’t help us. He won’t, he wants everything to be done fairly and we don’t win elections that way. If we don’t remove him, we can’t break the 8. In politics we need machinations and this IGP won’t allow that.”
Speaking at a public hearing on the matter by a committee set up by the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, on Monday, August 28, 2023, Naabu indicated that the officer who made the above remarks was one Commander Asare.
According to him, Commander Asare stated that NPP would lose the Assin North by-election held on June 27, 2023, if IGP Dampare was to go there, and it happened.
“He (Commander Asare) even told me that this Assin North Elections, if we allow the IGP to go there, we would lose the elections and I become scared. The IGP is not going there to vote but if he can go there and we would lose the election, then my (sic).
“So, he begged me that I should wait and see… ‘If we go to Assin North, this IGP would make us lose the election’. We went and we actually lost the election. So, it means that maybe what he was saying was true. He said it - ‘if the IGP takes us to the 2024 elections, we would lose’,” Bugri Naabu said.
Background:
A leaked audio recording, allegedly involving a Police Commissioner and a politician discussing a plot to remove the Inspector General of Police (IGP), George Akuffo Dampare, has ignited public outrage.
The recording features an officer who identifies himself as "Mensah" and a politician who is reportedly a regional chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
Their conversation revolves around plans to remove the IGP from office due to fears that he would be too firm during the 2024 elections and prevent any potential rigging.
The Commissioner of Police also specifically identifies the IGP's handling of the Assin North by-election as evidence of his commitment to ensuring free and fair elections.
The Parliament of Ghana has set up a 7-member committee to conduct a probe into the leaked tape after calls by the NDC Members of Parliament.
Proponents of the government have however stated that the allegations in the said tape should not be taken seriously because the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has no plans to change IGP Dr Geroge Akuffo Dampare.
Watch Bugri Naabu's remarks in the video below:
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