Why did you pull down the original video? – Manasseh Azure asks

Manasseh Azure Awuni, has asked originators of the viral video of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo allegedly receiving a bribe, why they pulled down the original video they uploaded on their Facebook timeline on November 30.

According to the freelance investigative journalist, he had watched the unedited video which had no voice narration but the second video was edited with voice narration.

Manasseh Azure Awuni wrote on his Facebook timeline, “I realised there was something else strange about this video. In this video, the one who led the Hajia to meet Nana Akufo-Addo is heard begging on behalf of one Alhaji Abass. The discussion about party people wanting Alhaji out did not feature at all. So, I went to the Facebook pages of those who first shared the 15-minute unedited video without the voice-over or narration.

“I realised that they had pulled down the original videos and uploaded this new one which had the voice-over and what appears like an insertion of the speaker's voice to match the narration that the money was sent as a bribe in 2017 to ensure that Alhaji Abass was kept in the office.

“The issue about campaign T-shirts have also been edited out of this new one. You will also realise that in the first one, an amount of 40,000 was mentioned, but there was no denomination. But in the second video being circulated, there it is stated.”

Manasseh Azure Awuni stated that, the conversation in the new video flows more naturally.

He said, when Baffour Awuah heard about the T-Shirts, he interjected and said he was going to Kumasi the following day and that he had to send the T-Shirts to support the (NPP) candidate in Asawase who badly needed support in his campaign. “Nana Akufo-Addo readily agreed that he should send them to him.”

“We should be asking the originators of the video why they pulled down the original ones they shared on November 30.”

Manasseh Azure Awuni, then advised that, Ghanaians should be concerned about video which has gone viral “because someone can record you in a discussion on one topic and go and edit out the original words, they spoke to you and add new ones to create a different scenario.”

Veteran journalist, Kweku Baako Jnr had earlier said the person who secretly recorded the viral video of then-candidate Nana Akufo-Addo, taking the $40,000 cash in a brown envelope is one Salis Yakubu Atsuluho of ‘The Salis newspaper’.

Baako disclosed that he introduced the said Salis Yakubu Atsuluho to Anas Aremeyaw Anas of the New Crusading Guide and Tiger Eye PI fame.

He said, the video was recorded in October 2016 when Nana Akufo-Addo, who was then the presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), was seeking to unseat former President John Dramani Mahama.

Kweku Baako Jnr. explained on Peace FM’s Kokrokoo Morning Show on Wednesday, that the video recordings are two: one is fake and the other, original, but both videos contain similar or the same scenes.

“I just don’t know how I feel,” Baako admitted, “This gentleman, Salis Yakubu Atsuluho, is the guy behind The Salis newspaper. The guy who did the secret recording of candidate Akufo-Addo”.

“Look, this is a guy [that] I influenced his entry into ‘Tiger Eye PI’, that’s why I said I don’t know how I feel; and in four, five months, Anas dismissed him.”

Read Manasseh's full post below: