Lawyer Samson Lardy Anyenini, the host of JoyNews' Newsfile, has stated that colleague lawyer, Martin Kpebu, was not forced to retract his criminal syndicate comment aimed at President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
According to him, the legal practitioner did not fear being prosecuted for describing the president as being part of the criminal syndicate at the Jubilee House.
Anyenini explained on the 'Samson's Take' segment of his show, Saturday, July 30, that "there cannot be what you ignorantly claim to be criminal charges in this matter because there cannot be any such. Also, it will only be a pursuit in an ill-advised nuisance suit and some public office holders would only be set up for maximum damage if they dared to mount the witness stand under cross-examination to assert a character free from the corruption, they have accused others of, in a defamation action."
To him, Lawyer Martin Kpebu was just a whistleblower who used the news analysis programme on JoyNews to express his reservations about the corruption fight to those in power.
"I share the invitation to focus on what angers Martin and impoverishes us, so we can get duty-bearers to do right by us in the Northern Development Authority fraudulent inflation of contract-price scandal. Martin blew the whistle publicly right here on Newsfile and the least we expect and legitimately so, is that those indicted and now being investigated by the OSP ought to have been interdicted just as was done to the former PPA boss when Manasseh’s contracts for sale documentary was aired.
"Let’s direct our energies to the thieves and their collaborators and not those helping expose them and demanding good governance and democratic accountability," Samson Anyenini submitted.
Lawyer Martin Kpebu on Saturday, July 23, issued an apology to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for describing him as a member of a criminal syndicate at the Jubilee House.
In a statement titled: "Retraction: Martin Kpebu’s comment without prejudice," the lawyer said his comments were a passionate expression of his disgust at the inaction of the presidency in dealing with some corruption-related issues.
"I do, hereby, retract and apologise for the expression purporting to connect the President of the Republic to crime," the statement read in part.
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What Martin Kpebu said:
Lawyer Martin Kpebu while addressing the issue of corruption perception report on Newsfile said, he was of the view that the statistics keep getting worse because the President appears adamant about fighting corruption under his watch.
“Akufo-Addo is part of the criminal syndicate at the Jubilee House. The president is definitely part. This corruption cannot happen without his involvement.
“Manasseh did this thing about Zoomlion, the spraying. When schools were being shut down, you know the corona period, schools were being closed and they were going to come back after 3 months, what was the need for the spraying?
“You follow Manasseh’s story, it lands on the president’s desk. Other stories land on their desks. The president; we have to say with all our energy, is part of that criminal syndicate and that we will not take this from you, you have to just step down,” he said.
Speaking on President Akufo-Addo's promise to use the ‘Anas principle’ to fight corruption when allowed to lead the country as president, he noted:
“In opposition, he said he will use the Anas Principle – when the president was coming into the office and that’s why I voted for him with alacrity.
“What is the Anas Principle? Private investigations, so the president should tell you and I, how many Anas principles has he used since he came.
“Abysmal failure – so this is 419,” Lawyer Martin Kpebu stressed.
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