NDC CANDIDATE
Friday, March 10, 2006
‘I Didn’t Recruit Anybody’
Story: Stephen Sah
Nii Lantey Vanderpuje, the aspiring National Democratic Congress (NDC) parliamentary candidate for the Odododiodoo Constituency, has denied ever recruiting anybody to register for him or engage in double registration.He said that apart from Musa Fuseini, the second accused person, he did not know either Gariba Mohammed, the third accused person, or any of the young men he was alleged to have recruited.Nii Lantey was opening his defence in the electoral malpractice case involving him, Musa and Gariba in which he has been charged with six counts of electoral offence relating to registration of voters and two counts of abetment of crime.Musah and Garibah are charged with one count each of registering as a voter at more than one registration centre. Each of them has been granted bail in the sum of ¢30 million with one surety.Led in evidence by Nii Okaija Adamafio, his counsel, Nii Lantey further denied meeting with some people to arrange for them to register and vote for him during the December elections.He, however, indicated that Musah brought some young men to his house on June 24, 2004 when he was about to leave home to tell him that the men wanted to have a discussion with him.“I told Musah I was in such a hurry so I referred him to Banza Bakoe and left. And apart from Musah I had not seen any of them before,” he said.Giving the background to the story, Nii Lantey said on that day, he sent his kids to school at Kanda and got back home at about 8.15 am, had his breakfast and then had a meeting with his aides, of whom Bakoe was the leader, on the day’s programme.According to him, he left home after the meeting to go round registration centres in his constituency to see how the photo-taking exercise was being conducted and left for the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, where he worked.He said after close of work, he went to the school to pick his kids and went home, before proceeding to attend a political meeting later in the evening where he saw Bakoe, who told him that the young men who had come to him (Nii Lantey) in the morning said they wanted to be his foot soldiers during the campaign.Nii Lantey said nothing happened until July 24, when he was invited to the Accra Regional Police Headquarters in connection with the case which according to the police, was reported by Nii-Bi Ayi Bontey, the Member of Parliament for the constituency.He said about 10 plain-clothes and uniformed police personnel with weapons stormed his residence at dawn to ask him to bring out some identity cards, to which he responded that he was unaware of any identity cards.He said the policemen asked for his own voter identity card and his mother went into the room to bring an album containing the family identity cards.After that, he said the policemen demanded to search the house, which he obliged but they never found anything so they requested to take him to the Police Headquarters.Nii Lantey said while on the way to the Police.Headquarters, the policemen received further instructions to go back to his house to conduct a thorough search but still nothing was found, although they took away four passports that belonged to some boxers that he managed and his brother in-law.He said he was taken away and later sent to La Police Station where he was granted bail in the evening.He categorically denied ever meeting with the young men who came to his house, stressing that he did not give anyone of them his jersey to wear in order to outwit registration officials.The jersey, according to him, got missing and he presumed it might have been stolen.Nii Lantey also denied giving out voter slips to Bakoe to be given to the young men saying, “ If Banza Bakoe did that, then he did it on his own
Friday, March 10, 2006
‘I Didn’t Recruit Anybody’
Story: Stephen Sah
Nii Lantey Vanderpuje, the aspiring National Democratic Congress (NDC) parliamentary candidate for the Odododiodoo Constituency, has denied ever recruiting anybody to register for him or engage in double registration.He said that apart from Musa Fuseini, the second accused person, he did not know either Gariba Mohammed, the third accused person, or any of the young men he was alleged to have recruited.Nii Lantey was opening his defence in the electoral malpractice case involving him, Musa and Gariba in which he has been charged with six counts of electoral offence relating to registration of voters and two counts of abetment of crime.Musah and Garibah are charged with one count each of registering as a voter at more than one registration centre. Each of them has been granted bail in the sum of ¢30 million with one surety.Led in evidence by Nii Okaija Adamafio, his counsel, Nii Lantey further denied meeting with some people to arrange for them to register and vote for him during the December elections.He, however, indicated that Musah brought some young men to his house on June 24, 2004 when he was about to leave home to tell him that the men wanted to have a discussion with him.“I told Musah I was in such a hurry so I referred him to Banza Bakoe and left. And apart from Musah I had not seen any of them before,” he said.Giving the background to the story, Nii Lantey said on that day, he sent his kids to school at Kanda and got back home at about 8.15 am, had his breakfast and then had a meeting with his aides, of whom Bakoe was the leader, on the day’s programme.According to him, he left home after the meeting to go round registration centres in his constituency to see how the photo-taking exercise was being conducted and left for the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, where he worked.He said after close of work, he went to the school to pick his kids and went home, before proceeding to attend a political meeting later in the evening where he saw Bakoe, who told him that the young men who had come to him (Nii Lantey) in the morning said they wanted to be his foot soldiers during the campaign.Nii Lantey said nothing happened until July 24, when he was invited to the Accra Regional Police Headquarters in connection with the case which according to the police, was reported by Nii-Bi Ayi Bontey, the Member of Parliament for the constituency.He said about 10 plain-clothes and uniformed police personnel with weapons stormed his residence at dawn to ask him to bring out some identity cards, to which he responded that he was unaware of any identity cards.He said the policemen asked for his own voter identity card and his mother went into the room to bring an album containing the family identity cards.After that, he said the policemen demanded to search the house, which he obliged but they never found anything so they requested to take him to the Police Headquarters.Nii Lantey said while on the way to the Police.Headquarters, the policemen received further instructions to go back to his house to conduct a thorough search but still nothing was found, although they took away four passports that belonged to some boxers that he managed and his brother in-law.He said he was taken away and later sent to La Police Station where he was granted bail in the evening.He categorically denied ever meeting with the young men who came to his house, stressing that he did not give anyone of them his jersey to wear in order to outwit registration officials.The jersey, according to him, got missing and he presumed it might have been stolen.Nii Lantey also denied giving out voter slips to Bakoe to be given to the young men saying, “ If Banza Bakoe did that, then he did it on his own
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