The dramatic arrest of former Buffer Stock CEO Hanan Abdul-Wahab at Kotoka International Airport has sparked outrage, with former Attorney-General Godfred Yeboah Dame accusing the government of trampling on due process and engaging in a witch-hunt against ex‑NPP officials.
Dame revealed that he was blocked from seeing his client after the detention, despite being accompanied by Abdul-Wahab’s wife. “I was not granted access to my client. They said they do not work on weekends. So I asked how they picked a person on a weekend and don’t work on weekends. We were denied access. I don’t know what they are doing to him,” he told Asaase Radio.
The Attorney-General’s office has claimed Abdul-Wahab attempted to withdraw money from a frozen account at Republic Bank. But Dame dismissed this as false, insisting that the freezing order had lapsed when prosecutors withdrew the earlier criminal case. “It is incorrect to say there is an order freezing the account because that order lapsed when the Attorney-General withdrew all the charges and he was re-arrested,” he explained.
Critics argue that the arrest is emblematic of the government’s high-handed tactics, where legal technicalities are ignored to harass former appointees of the NPP. Dame stressed that if prosecutors wanted to freeze Abdul-Wahab’s accounts, they should have sought a fresh court order rather than resorting to what he described as rights violations.
The detention also flouted a High Court order granting Abdul-Wahab permission to travel to the UK for medical treatment. Dame condemned the move as unprecedented, recalling that under his tenure, accused persons with valid court approval were never obstructed from travel.
Abdul-Wahab’s legal team has vowed to initiate contempt proceedings against the Attorney-General, Deputy Attorney-General, and the Director of the Bureau of National Investigations, arguing that the arrest violated a valid court order.
This episode underscores a troubling pattern: the government’s reliance on political intimidation rather than lawful prosecution. By disregarding court orders and blocking legal counsel, the administration risks eroding public trust in Ghana’s justice system. What should have been a straightforward legal process has instead become another flashpoint in the growing perception of witch-hunting of former NPP appointees.
