Why The NPP's Bugri Naabu Must Immediately Return All The Cash And Vehicle He Claims Were 'Bribes' From Former President Mahama And His Brother Ibrahim

In what must be one of the most convoluted stories ever recounted in the Ghanaian media, Mr. Bugri  Naabu, was reported to have been 'bribed' by former President Mahama and his brother Ibrahim Mahama - who it is claimed handed him GHc500,000 on Friday, 28 October, 2016: to apparently denounce his party's presidential candidate.

Incredibly, the morally upright Bugri Naabu, the New Patriotic Party's (NPP) chairperson for the Northern Region, did not reject the money, even though  from the claims he is said to have made about the matter, it was obvious to him that it was a 'bribe'.

Instead,  he went ahead to deposit the cash - in GHc50 denominations -  into an account (number: 0985590013) he held at the Abbosey Okai branch of the Prudential Bank. Amazing.

Apparently, he was also supposed to give an intermediary who facilitated the meeting between the Mahamas and Bugri Naabu, Alhaji Awal, GHc50,000, for his services. So far so good.

Bugri also claimed that he was told by the Mahamas that if he went ahead to denounce then-candidate Akufo-Addo as a tribalistic politician who despised northerners, they would give him a new V6 Mitsubishi SUV - which they subsequently did: even though Naabu never denounced Akufo-Addo. Where is the logic there?

The vehicle's ownership is said to have been transfered to him on 2nd November, 2016, by Malin Investment Company Limited - which is said to have imported the vehicle into Ghana in June 2016. He was also promised a Toyota Landcruiser SUV,  plus GHc3.3 million cash, in return  for the denunciation of Akufo-Addo. Talk about convoluted.

(Incidentally, Marlin Investment Company Limited is said to be owned by an aide to then-President Mahama Frank Nuhu Alormatu and a Ms. Hawa Hayifi Ayi  Mahama.)

A few days after Bugri Naabu banked the GHc5000,000, he said the Mahama brothers John and Ibrahim also donated GHc10,000 and GHc20,000 respectively during a funeral for his late daughter at Tamale.

Today, Bugri Naabu says he "thinks" he will give
the Mitsubishi SUV to charity. Cheeky sod. What if, perchance, the do-called 'bribes' were simply inducements to get him to return to the NDC he was once a member of and score valuable political points for the NDC that way? Nothing more, nothing less? Is that not something that goes on in the Ghanaian political world all the time - and is designed to cause political opponents maximum embarrassment?

If he is wise, Bugri Naabu would follow President Akufo-Addo's very sensible advice to him - in a comment the president made to journalists who asked him about Bugri Naabu's 'bribery' allegation against the Mahama brothers - and return the vehicle/vehicles and all the cash he claims  the Mahamas gave to him.

The reason for the president saying Naabu would return the alleged 'bribes' given him by the Mahama brothers (ostensibly to denounce then-candidate Akufo-Adddo as a tribalistic politician who hates northerners - a tall story if ever there was one) is simple: it is morally untenable to make allegations of 'bribery' against someone and still hold on to the said 'bribe'.

Common decency demands that Bugri Naabu returns every pesewa given to 'bribe' him (including the donations made during his late daughter's funeral by the Mahama brothers) to the Mahamas. Ditto the vehicle/vehicles.

It is not for Bugri Naabu to decide to give them away to charity - as that would be tantamount to accepting them. They are not his to give away if he claims they are 'bribes'. Bribery is an offence - for which the giver and receiver can both be prosecuted.

Bugri Naabu is trying to eat his cake and have it in this matter. He cannot. President Akufo-Addo, who is a very wise gentleman, should impress upon him to immediately return all the cash and vehicle/vehicless he received from the Mahama brothers. Period. Bugri is not nearly as clever as he thinks he is.

The point is not that Bugri was buying expensive cars whiles President Mahama was still a student at Tamale Secondary School. That is pure nonsense on bamboo stilts - and Bugri knows it is a diversionary tactic that is neither here nor there.

The whole point - in all his extra tall Kweku-Ananse-Toli - is that President Mahama headed an administration to which contractors sent bids to tender for contracts. - and he, like many other contractors across the nation, was owed for past contracts which had not been paid: a very frustrating situation for any businessperson.

So how do we know that the convoluted story as narrated to the NPP  by Bugri and relayed to the world by the holier-than-though and dissembling Mustapha Hamid (milking Naabu's embarasment at being caught redhanded for all it was worth to counter poor innocent-abroad Haruna Atta's devastating recent plainspeaking) was not just a pack of lies concocted to score political points for the NPP in the heat of an election campaign?

Could the truth simply not be that those lies were  invented to fit the real facts in the matter - a genuine attempt by the Mahama brothers to appease a disgruntled contractor whom the government had not paid for work done, and who was once an NDC man who eventually crossed carpet to the NPP: who was approached to see if he would be willing to return to the NDC fold again in exchange for being relieved of any indebtedness caused by the nonpayment of work done by his company? Yen nye enkwada ewo Ghana o, hmm.

Is  that scenario not more plausible than the Kweku-Ananse-Toli the world was told by Mustapha Hamid as purportedly relayed to him by Bugri Naabu?
 
In any case,  Onyame enye Alata ni, enti, today, Bugri has lost the little credibility he had with the NPP. Serves him right. To appease the Almighty God let him return all the cash and vehicle/vehicles - as the president has wisely advised. Cheeky sod: #Mendacity-by-another-name. Ebeeii. Haaba.