Yaw Buaben Asamoa, a senior member of the Movement for Change and former Director of Communication of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), has raised concerns about the arrest of his colleague member, Hopeson Adorye.
Adorye was arrested on Wednesday, May 22, 2024, for his comments about using dynamite to intimidate non-Ghanaians from voting in the Volta Region during the 2016 election.
He was charged with the Publication of False News and was granted bail of GH₵20,000 with two sureties.
Speaking in an interview on Citi FM’s Eyewitness News on Thursday, May 23, 2024, Buaben Asamoa, who is also Adorye’s lawyer, mentioned that his client had publicly confessed to his actions in the past when he was a member of the NPP, but was never arrested or prosecuted.
He noted that Adorye had previously informed President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and other party leaders about his actions, and was commended for it.
“If you listen to the foundational evidential tape, Hopeson is heard telling the people he was speaking to that he had informed then-candidate, now President Akufo-Addo, about this back in 2016. So, before assuming office, he (Akufo-Addo) was aware of it if we are to believe Hopeson,” Buaben Asamoa explained.
“For the past eight years, he has made these claims elsewhere, but because he was a prominent figure within the NPP government, no one deemed it necessary to investigate those claims,” the former NPP communicator director added.
He further stated, “Now suddenly, as he continues to make these claims under the Movement for Change, he is being labeled as a saboteur, treasonous, and a threat to national security. The change in circumstances has caused discontent among some individuals; they are unhappy and want to silence him. This arrest was seen as a convenient way to do so, but it has not been successful.”
