Arrest of NPP’s Adenta Kumi unjustified — Manasseh urges defamation suit instead

Ghanaian investigative journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni has condemned the arrest of Alfred Ababio Kumi, popularly known as Adenta Kumi, a member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

Kumi was reportedly arrested by officials of the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB) in the early hours of Friday, May 23, in what eyewitnesses described as a “Rambo-style” operation.

His lawyer, Clement Opoku Gyamfi, told Accra-based Asempa FM that the arrest is linked to a petition Kumi submitted to President John Dramani Mahama, requesting the dissolution of a five-member committee investigating calls for the removal of Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo.

In the petition, Kumi claimed to have intercepted a video allegedly showing Justices Pwamang and Adibu-Asiedu, along with Supreme Court Justice Yonny Kulendi, dining and discussing the matter with Thaddeus Sory—counsel for petitioner Daniel Ofori—at Santoku Restaurant in Accra’s Airport Residential Area on May 15, 2025, shortly after the committee’s inaugural sitting.

According to his lawyer, the NIB is pursuing Kumi for alleged publication of false news, based on statements he made in media interviews, on his X account, and in the contents of his petition.

Reacting to the development in a social media post the same day, Manasseh Azure said individuals cited in Kumi’s claims should pursue legal redress through the courts if they feel defamed, instead of resorting to a state-led arrest.

“If the people mentioned feel defamed, they can sue Adenta Kumi. This harassment from the state is getting out of hand,” he wrote on X.