I drive expensive cars - Bugri Naabu

Northern Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party, Daniel Bugri Naabu, has opened up on the allegation that President John Mahama attempted to bribe him with millions of cedis and cars.

Mr Bugri Naabu boasted he cannot be bribed with cars and money because he started driving expensive cars at a time that President Mahama was a secondary school student.

“What is 500,000 [Ghana cedis]? What is a car? Me, when I started buying cars; expensive cars, John Mahama was a student.

He was a student at Ghana College,” he said. He made the comments when he received some regional and constituency executives of the All People’s Party at his residence in Tamale Wednesday evening, TV3’s Zubaida Ismail reported.

The executives have endorsed the NPP’s presidential candidate, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, for the December 7 elections.

The NPP on Tuesday alleged at a news conference in Accra that President Mahama and his brother, Ibrahim Mahama, attempted to bribe Mr Bugri Naabu to resign from the NPP, paint Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as a dictator and damage him “beyond electability”.

According to the party, Mr Bugri Naabu at a meeting with the President and his brother on October 28, 2016 handed cash of GHC500,000 and promised additional GHC3.3 million, a V6 Mitsubishi vehicle and a brand new V8 Land cruiser.

The Mitsibushi was given him on November 2, 2016. The NDC has since rubbished the allegations, describing it as a cock and bull story intended to cause disaffection for President Mahama who is seeking re-election for a second term.

‘I don’t need bribe’ Commenting on the issue for the first time, Mr Bugri Naabu said: “He [Mahama] himself told me that, I was having some cars, Motorolas and others the day he was presenting the 500,000 to me and the car, so what is he talking about? What are they talking about?” Mr Bugri Naabu told his critics, including Dr Hassan Ayariga who called for his arrest, that he does not need bribe, indicating that if he did, he would have pocketed the money and other goodies, and done what was expected of him.

“Ayariga says I should be arrested and that I have taken bribe. I don’t need bribe. If I need bribe, I would have pocket the money they give me and the cars and the promise of the other money, which [was] suppose to come [and] I would have done it [sic]” an angry Mr Bugri Naabu added. He questioned those who are giving excuses that the money and the car were gift from the President and his brother, saying “if John Mahama wanted to give me money, he would have given me since he became the vice and president”.

Mr Bugri Naabu wondered President Mahama decided to give him the money and the car at a time that Ghana is going into elections because he had all the time that he became vice president and later president to have done so.

“Is it today that he [President Mahama] knows that I need money. Is it today? I asked him that day. You [Mahama] said I’ve run away, I said you led me because you were all the time, all of you including your brothers, we were together, Why do you get power, to talk to you is a problem? Today that you’re failing, you’re asking me to come? I wont come,” he said.

He said Nana Akufo-Addo who is making his third attempt at the presidency in this year’s election, is the only one who has a vision to get Ghana out of its economic challenges hence would not trade that for anything.