Court grants Abronye GH¢100 000.00 bail
Kwame Baffoe, aka Abronye DC, who is facing charges on the publication of false news and offensive conduct conducive to the breach of peace has been granted bail in the sum of GH¢100,000.00 with two sureties.
Baffoe, Bono regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party, allegedly accused Former President Mahama of having met with an al-qaeda militant to stage a coup in Ghana.
He, however, pleaded not guilty when he appeared before an Accra Circuit Court on Wednesday.
The Court presided over by Mrs Adelaide Abui Keddy ordered the two sureties to deposit copies of their valid ID cards at its registry.
The court further ordered the prosecution to file their disclosures within 14 days and adjourned the matter to Wednesday, March 9, for the Case Management Conference (CMC).
Mr Anthony Namoo, who represented the accused, had prayed the court to admit him to bail.
Mr Namoo said his client was not a flight risk, and would avail himself to the police at all times.
The defence counsel said Baffoe would not also interfere with the investigation.
Additionally, he said, Baffoe was a well-known individual who had a fixed place of abode.
Mr Namoo stated that Baffoe honoured the invitation of the Police before he was arrested.
“The accused was called around 12 noon yesterday, and at about 1pm, he was at the Greater Accra Regional Police Command where he cooperated with the police,” he said.
Chief Inspector Dennis Terkpetey did not oppose to the grant of bail but told the court that the conditions of the bail should compel Baffoe to appear before the court.
He told the court that the accused was a farmer and a political party Chairman.
On February 14, this year, Baffoe called into a morning show programme, dubbed : “Dwene Ho Biom”, on the Hot FM radio in Accra to share his view on a topic under discussion.
During the discussion, he alleged that Former President Mahama had met with an al-qaeda militant to stage a coup in Ghana.
He said the host of the programme, Isaac Boamah Darko, informed Baffoe to retract the allegation, but he refused and insisted that he knew what he was talking about.
The host of the programme, consequently, issued a disclaimer saying the radio station would not be responsible for the inflammatory statement.
The following day, the Greater Accra Regional Police Command arrested Baffoe after its preliminary investigations established that the allegation was untrue, according to a Police official statement to the media.
In Abronye’s investigation caution statement to the police, he said it was Oliver Barker-Vormawor, a former Presidential Staffer, who made that statement, but the former President did not condemn.
However, the former President condemned the police for Barker-Vormawor’s arrest.
Some party big wigs, including Mr Freddie Blay, Chairman, Mr John Boadu, General Secretary, as well as Mr Ignatius Baffour Awuah, Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, were present at the court.
Source: GNA