Wontumi’s EOCO arrest was properly done, not in Rambo style — Mustapha Gbande

Deputy Director of Operations at the Presidency, Mustapha Foyo Gbande, has defended the manner in which Ashanti Regional NPP Chairman, Bernard Antwi Bosiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, was arrested by the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO).

Chairman Wontumi was picked up by EOCO after honouring an earlier invitation from the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) on Tuesday, May 27, in what some described as a Rambo-style operation.

He was later charged with offences related to organized crime and causing financial loss to the state, following investigations into his alleged involvement in illegal mining.

After spending a week in EOCO custody, Wontumi was granted bail to the tune of GHS50 million.

But speaking on Accra-based JoyPrime on Wednesday, June 18, Mr. Gbande, who also serves as Deputy General Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), rejected claims of heavy-handedness.

“Wontumi was properly arrested, not manhandled. I think that was the most modest form of arrest, because when a man tells you he controls the Ashanti Region—that when a former president is visiting, national security should negotiate with him—you don’t arrest such a person with two police officers,” he said.

“You have to take a full armoury, including explosives, to pick him up. You said you are dangerous. Okay, why should I assume you’re not, when I don’t know what is in your house?” he added.

According to him, if he had not been out of the country, he would have led the national security operatives to break down the door to Wontumi’s house in Kumasi during the first failed arrest attempt.

“National security operatives tried to go to his house and invite him. He was in there shouting. Nobody broke his door. If I was there—I was outside the country at the time—I would have broken into his house and got him out. But they didn’t do that,” he stated.