The Deputy Minister of the Interior, Ebenezer Okletey Terlabi has explained that security officers who went to New Patriotic Party (NPP) Ashanti Regional Chairman Bernard Antwi Boasiako's (Chairman Wontumi) house in Kumasi on Friday morning were there to invite him.
The early morning operation saw a joint team of National Security operatives and Police officers surround the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the NPP’s private residence in Kumasi, prompting widespread confusion and tension in the Daban area.
Opposition leaders have likened the incident to recent raids on former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta and the immediate past Bank of Ghana Governor Dr. Ernest Addison, calling it a pattern of intimidation.
However, Deputy Minister for Interior, Ebenezer Okletey Terlabi, in an interview on Citi FM, dismissed suggestions of political motivation, stating that the National Investigations Bureau (NIB) acted within its mandate.
“The National Security will not go to Wontumi’s house without a reason. They went there with a reason. So let us allow the security personnel to do their job, because at the end of the day, what we need in this country is peace,” he said.
Addressing claims by Wontumi that the operation was an attempt to harass or harm him, Terlabi pushed back, describing the NPP chairman’s remarks as a distraction.
“He is just playing the victim. Nobody wants to kill Wontumi, and they did not go there to kill him. They went there to invite him. If you are to go and catch a wild dog, you do not go there without arming yourself,” he added.
Terlabi’s remarks come in the wake of accusations by Chairman Wontumi that the NIB and Ghana Police Service had stormed his residence in a politically motivated effort to intimidate him.