A former Northern Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Bugri Naabu, says he recorded the controversial leaked tape which captured a plot to remove the Inspector General of Police, Dr George Akuffo Dampare, from office, to safeguard the interest of the party.
Mr Naabu, who confirmed the authenticity of the secret tape, indicated that he planned to gather enough evidence to play to President Akufo-Addo due to the sensitive nature of the issues discussed with the three high-ranking police officers.
“I think that was my main interest, to protect the party.
“The reason for recording this tape is that they are coming to tell me to go and tell the President something…and it is either I don’t go to tell the President, and then my party and I suffer for it, and if I also go to talk to the President, it is good to tell him the right thing, and since I cannot keep everything they were telling me at that point, it was very good to record, and I know the President, [if] I go and tell him something, and it turns not to be true, next time he won’t give me respect,” Mr Naabu stated when he appeared before the committee set up to probe the tape.
He added that he requested someone to do the recording for him since he did not know how.
“I didn’t do it myself, but I requested somebody who knows how to do the recording to come and do it for me. I didn’t use a phone. I went to the mall and got this ordinary tape,” he stated.
This comes weeks after the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, tasked a seven-member committee to probe the leaked audio recording proposing the clandestine removal of the IGP from office.
Chaired by the Member of Parliament for Abuakwa South, Samuel Atta Akyea, the panel is mandated to investigate the authenticity of the leaked tape and the intricate allegations that have captured the nation’s attention.