A group called friends of Apostle Kwaben Owusu Agyei has held a press conference today 15th June,2020 demanding the immediate release of the Apostle Kwabena Owusu Agyei.
Apostle Kwabena Owusu Agyei was arrested by national security operatives on 9th June, 2020 for allegedly threatening the chairperson of the electoral commission and the President of the republic of Ghana.
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During the Press conference, the group alleged that, the arrest of the man of God is politically motivated and that the National Security is being used to gag opposing voices to the ruling government to retain political power.
Below is the Press Statement from the Group ( Friends of Apostle Owusu Agyei)
PRESS CONFERENCE BY FRIENDS OF APOSTLE KWABENA OWUSU AGYEI
CALLING FOR HIS IMMEDIETE RELEASE
Good morning ladies and gentlemen from the media. We have invited you here this morning to express our disagreement and dismay about the arrest of the Apostle and demanding for his immediate release.
You would all bear with us that Ghana is a country of rule of law, and not rule of men. So, our actions and inactions should depict same.
We the friends of Apostle Kwabena Owusu Agyei call for his release immediately. We also, just like all well-meaning citizens agree, that the tone of his choice of words in the said video leading to his arrest could have been milder, but the focus on the content of his comment resonates with the
views of many in our society and also fall in line with what many concerned citizens have said and are still saying in the, light of anomalies that characterise our electoral process, which are the same circumstances that lead to political unrest in other countries.
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Ladies and gentlemen, the Rambo style and the alacrity with which the man of God was arrested and humiliated in the full glare of the public as if he were an armed robber was most unfortunate and must be condemned by all lovers of democracy.
Records about the Apostle attest to the fact that he is just a patriotic citizen who expresses his views on national issues, no matter who is involved. This is the same man of God that warned Ghanaians
to vote former President Mahama out of office, because he saw coup detat, if he was retained in the 2016 election, but the then government did not subject him to the torture being meted out to him currently.
Ladies and gentlemen, the scope of the comment made by the man of God was to expose the shortcomings in how the Electoral commission and the government are going about the voters registration process; by ignoring wise counsel of well-meaning Ghanaians and derailing from the
established conventions that govern our electoral process that hitherto is an envy to other countries in the African continent and the world at large. A situation the Apostle pointed out as a recipe for chaos if not checked, and the victims will be those behind these wrongs. Who does not know what the reaction to the EC’s awkward position in the electoral process will be, given the political tension in the country currently.
We the friends of the man of God are asking the following questions in respect of the Rambo style he was arrested:
i. Why couldn’t the National Security invite him to their outfit for questioning per the
normal practice?
ii. Why wasn’t any arrest warrant shown to the suspect to verify whether it’s from a lawful outfit?
iii. Why was the suspect not searched at the scene of arrest, and how do we believe that the drug was not planted on him by the arresting officers?
iv. What happens to the law of, a person is presumed innocent until proven guilty by
competent court of jurisdiction?
v. Since when the National Security start taking picture and video of suspect and circulate in the social media before any independent investigation is done?
vi. How do we believe the arresting officers that the alleged drug found on the suspect was truly from him?
vii. Was it the thinking of the National Security officers that there would not be any reasonable ground to nail the suspect, hence, this drug plot?
viii. Why should the National Security officers rather not be arrested for planting drug on the suspect, given the way they went about the arrest?
ix. How could his statement (you will die) be interpreted to mean that the man of God will kill the EC boss?
How different was his comments from the views expressed by other concerned citizens regarding the way the EC is conducting affairs? In fact, Rev. Owusu Bempah and others are on records to have
used derogatory words to describe Mrs Charlotte Osei, the former Electoral Commissioner, and also said, (Mrs Charlotte Osei will die if she declares former President Mahama as the winner of the 2016 election), the very same words that Apostle KOA used but he, Rev. Owusu Bempah was not humiliated by the then government in this manner. No outfit of the security forces even invited him for questioning.
We are more than convinced that the conduct of the NS in this arrest is politically motivated, a sheer show of political power to gag opposing voices to the ruling government to retain political power.
We are by this press conference, appealing to eminent persons in our society, Civil Society Organizations and Embassies in Ghana, to add their voices to our call and also demand his immediate release.
Thank you.
To all media house
Signed: ………………………………………….
B. A. Cephas, 0235717146
Edem Tsratse, 0247140825
Ekow Acquah, 0244715451
Justice Kpornyo, 0243854582
Eric Bosu, 0246894476
Emmanuel Bruce, 0204666650
Galahad Andoh 0559487052
Etc.
