'Your statement never said Miracles cannot be found, hiding, declared wanted; stop the abuse' — MFWA Boss blasts EOCO

The Executive Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), Sulemana Braimah, has questioned the justification for the arrest and continued detention of Dennis Edward Aboagye, popularly known as "Miracles", arguing that there is no indication he obstructed investigations or declined to cooperate with the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO).

EOCO arrested the New Patriotic Party (NPP) communicator over the weekend after he arrived at the Accra International Airport from an overseas trip and has since kept him in custody.

The arrest has generated widespread reactions from civil society groups and democracy advocates, with calls for clarity on the circumstances surrounding the action.

Following public concerns over the reasons for the arrest, EOCO on Monday, July 13, issued a statement explaining the basis for its operation.

However, reacting to the statement, Mr Braimah criticised the anti-corruption agency, accusing it of exceeding its powers and describing the reasons provided for the arrest as “unjustifiable”.

“While I fully support anti-corruption actions by state law enforcement bodies, I want such actions to be fair and decorous. Anti-corruption law enforcement actions that have a semblance of show of force or abuse of power are non-progressive,” Braimah wrote on his Facebook page.

He further questioned whether there was any evidence that Mr Aboagye had avoided investigators or failed to comply with requests from EOCO.

“Now, the EOCO statement doesn’t say EOCO had been searching for Miracles without finding him. It doesn’t say Miracles had been declared wanted. It doesn’t say Miracles had gone into hiding. It doesn’t say Miracles had flouted any court order not to travel out of the country. It doesn’t say Miracles had refused to attend EOCO invitations. It doesn’t say the investigations had reached a stage where Miracles needed to be stopped and arrested immediately wherever he was found.”

Mr Braimah also questioned the timing and manner of the arrest, asking why EOCO could not have waited until the following day if immediate detention was not necessary.

“If he needed to be arrested immediately, why couldn’t EOCO wait to do so the next day?” he asked.

He acknowledged the importance of investigating corruption cases, prosecuting offenders and recovering every “looted state fund”, but cautioned that such efforts must be conducted within the confines of fairness and due process.

According to him, the fight against corruption “must be fair and must not create avenues for legitimate accusations of show of force or abuse of power.”