NDC Ayawaso North chairman's lawyer explains how guns were found in party vehicle
The lawyer for the suspended Ayawaso North constituency chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Theophilus Donkor has been explaining how Ahmed Tahiru found guns in an NDC vehicle and reported the matter to the police.
According to the lawyer, Tahiru never told the police that the guns were given to him by the National Vice Chairman of the NDC, Alhaji Said Sinare neither did he tell the police that Sinare gave them out to be used to cause mayhem.
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In a radio interview with Accra based Citi FM on Thursday evening [October 29, 2020] monitored by Graphic Online, Mr Donkor said his client, Tahiru is an NDC person, who went for an NDC pick-up and found guns and ammunition in the car on Monday morning October 26, 2020.
He said Tahiru actually picked the vehicle from Santeo on Sunday, October 25, 2020 but found the guns Monday morning.
"So Monday [October 26, 2020], he tendered in those guns to the police at Kotobaabi Police Station that he has found these guns in the [NDC] car and that he doesn't have use for them and so he handed it over to the police."
"And I don't know what happened and then the matter was referred to the [Accra] Regional Police Command. So he [Tahiru] gave a statement as a witness and today [Thursday] when he was cautioned on those charges too, he has given a statement to the police."
"I must also add that the facts as attached to the charge sheet as was presented to the court today [Kaneshie District Court], never mentioned that my client ever mentioned anywhere that the guns were given to him by Alhaji [Said] Sinare and also the guns were given to him to go and cause mayhem, it is no where in the facts that were presented to the court today that were later on withdrawn," he said.
Asked for a comment on the suspension handed his client by the NDC for choosing to report the matter to the police instead of resorting to internal party structures to resolve what he allegedly found in the car, Mr Donkor said, "As far as I know, they are dealing with a crime and not politics."
"So what we have given to the police is what is on record. Both statements that he has given to the police, when he reported the matter he was being dealt with as a witness, he has been consistent with his statement to the police, when he was also cautioned, he has also repeated the same statement, so that statement that Alhaji Sinare has given guns to him, I don't know where that statement is coming from, as far as I know, with the conference that I have had with my client, when he had not even consulted me, when he reported the matter to the police, it is the same statement that he has repeated to the Accra Regional Command."
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Meanwhile the lawyer of Tahiru, Mr Theophilus Donkor in a radio interview with Citi FM has said that Tahiru only told the police that he found those weapons in a party vehicle, which he had been using but had been parked at Santeo since 2016.
He said the vehicle had not been broken into and that he had the keys with him.
Defending why Tahiru chose to report the matter to the police, Mr Donkor said, "possession of firearms without authority or to use the word license to handle weapon is a criminal offence under our law and it is a first degree felony if you are charged under Section 192 of Act 29, so if a citizen finds a gun in a car that has been parked for almost 4 years and he says that I'm giving it to the police, because at that time, he doesn't know who owns that gun, so the best thing to have done, which he did was to hand over the guns to the police."
The lawyer said he has been told that the car was parked somewhere around Santeo and that it was parked there after the 2016 elections.
Asked about whose house the car had been parked, Mr Donkor said he doesn't have instructions to speak on that.
He said elections are heating up and as a constituency chairman, Tahiru needed to use that car and so when the car had not been broken into and he had the key, "he was so suspicious and the only person he can run to for protection is to the police, so that the police can conduct investigations and come to a conclusion that this is the owner of the gun or the gun should not get into the hands of other people who can commit further crimes with it."
He said the vehicle in which the guns were found were part of the pool of cars that belong to the NDC "but this one (vehicle) they don't use it regularly and as elections were heating up, he [Tahiru] felt that he could pick that car, because he had previously used that car during the 2016 elections.
Clarifying the relationship between Tahiru and Alhaji Said Sinare and the allegation that the guns belonged to Sinare, Mr Donkor said:
"I don't know where that narrative is coming from that he has mentioned the name of Alhaji Sinare because as far as I know, the only relationship he had had with Alhaji Sinare is that he has worked closely with him so many years, he has been his driver, graduated to become a special assistant to Alhaji Sinare..., as far as I know, there are misunderstandings between them which is part of the facts that was presented to court today.
- Read also:
- Police withdraw criminal case against Alhaji Sinare
- Weapons distribution allegation: Said Sinare admits ownership of pump action gun but denies AK 47
- Police interrogate Said Sinare over weapons distribution claims
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