Opare-Addo was removed because of ‘criminal activities’ – Maj Gen Amanfo

The acting National Security Coordinator, Major General (retired) Francis Adu Amanfo has defended the forceful removal from the office of Mr Ayesu Opare-Addo as the Ashanti Regional Security Liaison Officer.

He said force had to be applied because Mr Opare-Addo was refusing to leave office.

The acting National Security Coordinator denied that Mr Opare-Addo was handcuffed as had been alleged by him.

Rather, he said it was the National Security operatives from Accra, who had been dispatched to remove him from office, who were the ones who were handcuffed.

He said Mr Opare-addo had been removed and he was refusing to vacate his office even though he had no locus to be there.

“He should have handed over to the [new] officer and he said he won’t, that is why a team was sent from Accra to go and mitigate and facilitate the handing and taking over process,” Major General (retd) Amanfo said.

Speaking to journalists on the issue on Tuesday [May 18, 2021], Major General Amanfo revealed that the removal was related to “non performance” and “criminal activities.”

“He [Opare-Addo] rather called police reinforcement and got the team [from Accra], that went to [Kumasi] to mitigate the event [incident] in Kumasi, and they were handcuffed, it is the team from Accra, which was handcuffed and not he, Opare-Addo.

“Opare-Addo wasn’t handcuffed, he rather called the police commander, regional commander to come and they came and arrested the team we [National Security] had sent from Accra. But do you know what? The bottom line of it all is that, Opare-Addo had a contract with National Security [sic] and I, [Maj Gen Amanfo] had not even assumed office.”

“And for four years, he was the Regional Liaison Officer for National Security, his term of office or his contract expired and it was not renewed. I understand that it was not renewed because of non performance and because of his own criminal activities,” Major Gen (retd) Amanfo alleged.

When he was prompted by the journalists on how serious that allegation was, he indicated that the issues are being investigated and that a team and a committee has been set up to investigate these matters.

Major Gen (retd) Amanfo said he was very experienced, and in the military had served 37 years, and also served as “an Ambassador to Liberia, Ambassador to Mali, so I have seen it all. Most of these allegations are vicious. So we need to investigate them.”

Opare-Addo’s response

Reacting to the allegation by Major General (retd) Amanfo in a radio interview monitored by Graphic Online on Accra based Citi FM on Tuesday evening, Mr Opare-Addo said “no reaction.”

“He [Amanfo] is making that proposition and so he should come out with his findings, that’s all,” Mr Opare-Addo said when he was asked for a response on the allegation in the radio interview monitored by Graphic Online.

Prompted that Maj Gen Amanfo said his [Opare-Addo’s] allegations were vicious, Mr Opare-Addo responded, “that is what he knows. What I know is, the allegations aren’t vicious.”

On the issue of handcuffing, Mr Opare-Addo said, “Look, let him know that he wasn’t in my office at the time so I have no comment.”

Asked about how the statement from Maj Gen Amanfo could impugn his credibility, Mr Opare-Addo said, “Don’t worry about him. I am not worried about what he said. Forget about him.”

Mr Opare-Addo said he know “the guys who came there from the Delta Force, they came to my office, I know them by their names by their faces, they came with three others and again, they came with a hired vehicle [and] not an official vehicle plate.

Asked for a comment on Maj Gen Amanfo’s assertion that the team that went to his officer were sent from Accra, Mr Opare-Addo questioned, “Is that a very reasonable decision, is that the way I should be treated? Please.”

On the issue of whether his contract had expired or not, Mr Opare-Addo said he would not want to talk on that and rather questioned what he said was an unprofessional way of handling the situation.

To him, as far as he was concerned, he had been directed by the President to go and continue with his work when he told the President about what was being planned against him and that he was going to hear from the President later was the message he got from the Presidency.