Former President John Dramani and outspoken Northern Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Daniel Bugri Naabu came face to face for the first time after allegations of attempts by the former president to bribe him.
At the 41st National Congress of the Gonjaland Youth Association held at Sawla in the Sawla-Tuna-Kalba District of the Northern region, both met for the first time and while exchanging pleasantries the former president in a sarcastic comment said “If you are not using the car they say I gave you please return it”
Mr Bugri Naabu in response said “I have given it to my party” a response that sparked spontaneous laughter among other dignitaries who were accompanying the former president.
It would be recalled that prior to the 2016 elections, the then president was accused of attempting to bribe the Northern Regional Chairman of the party, with money, cars and contracts, so that he (Naabu) could destroy the image of the then NPP flag bearer, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, as an ethnic bigot who hates northerners with a passion.
That alleged machination, the party alleged, was to create the perception among northerners that Nana Akufo-Addo was a rabid hater of northerners adding that the President met Mr Bugri Naabu on October 28, 2016, together with the President’s brother, Mr Ibrahim Mahama, and a certain Alhaji Mohammed Awal, at which meeting he (Bugri Naabu) was given GH¢500,000 in GH¢50 denominations.
He was also promised a brand new V6 Mitsubishi Pajero, a brand new V8 Landcruiser, GH¢3.3 million, as well as the payment of the GH¢247,000 debt owed him for years from a road construction work.
“Ibrahim Mahama dropped it, right in front of him,” Sheikh Hamid alleged.
He said the meeting day being a Friday, Mr Bugri Naabu, a vociferous critic of the Mahama administration, deposited the money in a Prudential Bank account at Abossey Okai in Accra.
A few days later, President Mahama sent a high-powered delegation to the funeral of Mr Bugri Naabu’s daughter.
At the funeral, a GH¢10,000 donation was allegedly made on behalf of the President, while Ibrahim Mahama gave GH¢20,000.
Days later, the Mitsubishi vehicle was allegedly delivered to Mr Bugri Naabu, with November 2, 2016 being the date on which the change of ownership was done.
“It was imported in August 2016 in the name of Malin Investment Company Limited and the party’s checks at the Registrar-General showed that the two directors of the company are Hawa Mahama and Frank Nuhu Alormasor, who everyone knows to be the special assistant to the President,” he said.
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