EOCO invitation cannot be basis for arresting Baffour Awuah – Noah Adamptey

Private legal practitioner Noah Ephraem Tetteh Adamptey has questioned the legal basis for the attempted arrest of Manhyia South MP Nana Agyei Baffour Awuah by officials of the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO).

He said an invitation from a state investigative agency does not, by itself, create a legal obligation for the person invited to appear.

Noah Adamptey was speaking on Accra-based Channel One TV’s Breakfast Daily on Thursday, September 24, on the confrontation between the MP and EOCO officials at the Accra High Court the previous day.

According to him, EOCO’s decision to prevent the MP from leaving after he offered to drive himself to the agency’s office transformed what may have started as an invitation into an arrest.

“That invitation mandates a person has a right to not attend that invitation, and there is nothing that mandates a person to appear before any state agency on an invitation,” he said.

The lawyer said Section 19 of the Economic and Organised Crime Office Act, which EOCO cited in correspondence to the law firm associated with the MP, gives the agency or an authorised officer the power to invite a person in connection with an investigation but does not criminalise failure to honour such an invitation.

He further argued that the circumstances surrounding Wednesday’s incident made it difficult to characterise the encounter as merely an invitation because the MP had offered to travel to EOCO’s office in his own vehicle.

EOCO confirmed on September 23 that its officers had attempted to arrest the MP in connection with an ongoing investigation.

The agency said Baffour Awuah had been invited twice in February 2026 to assist with the investigation but failed to honour the invitations, prompting it to take further steps to secure his attendance.

Baffour Awuah, however, disputed EOCO’s account, saying he had not been personally invited by the agency.