Court revokes bail for three PNC members

Accra, Feb. 24, GNA - The Adjabeng District Magistrate Court 93Two= " on Thursday revoked the bail granted to three members of the People's Nation= al Convention (PNC) who were accused of breaking into the party's headquarte= rs. They are Dr Somtim Tobiga, Baba Ghana Seidu and Ahmed Gado. The Magistrate, Mrs Faustina Mary Addington, further ordered the agents= , assigns and workmen of the accused persons to vacate the premises until the final determination of the case.

According to the court it had not received any application from the Hig= h Court that enjoined the accused persons to flout its orders. Dr Tobiga and Seidu who were standing trial on charges of stealing an= d causing harm had earlier on been granted GH¢4,000 bail each. Ahmed Gado, the third accused person who also denied the same charges, was also granted GH¢3,000 bail with two sureties one to be justified by t= he court. The bail was revoked by the court after Captain Nkrabeah Effah-Darteh (Rtd) had informed it that the accused persons had flouted the orders of th= e court.

According to him, the accused persons were still occupying the party offices despite the orders of the court made on January 6 that they should vacate the premises.

Capt. Effah-Dartey therefore prayed the court to revoke the bail by sending them back to custody until they complied with the orders of the court. Effah-Darteh who was 93watching brief" for the complainants in the c= ase, said he had advised his clients to respect the law by not doing any thing that would disturb the court processes. According to him his client had the court as the last option if they were being sought for. He noted that the charges leveled against the accused persons were stealing and causing damage and those constituted criminal offences which did not need the filing of stay of execution among other applications. Capt Effah-Darteh said the accused were at liberty to pursue any civil action as to whether or not they did not like their party chairman. Seidu however told the court that the party's offices were opened and not closed. In the case of Gado, they were at the Regional Office and not at the party's headquarters and that he had told the party Chairman to invite th= em to know their concerns and solve the matter amicably. According to Gado he had filed some applications against the party at the High Court and denied ever stealing anything from the party headquarters.

Earlier Police Inspector Fuseini M. Iddrisu, prosecuting, told the court that the three accused persons together with some members of the Council of Elders claimed they had abolished the current National Executive Committee and replaced it with an Interim Management Committee (IMC). He said the accused persons together with others changed locks to the offices of the party's headquarters preventing the elected officers from operating.

The prosecutor said the officers including Alhaji Ahmed Rhamadan, National Chairman, Mr Bernard Mornah, General Secretary and Mr Attik Mohammed, a Policy Analyst, lodged complainant with the Police at Kotobabi in Accra. He said the accused persons were arrested and after investigations charged with the offence. The case has been adjourned to March 3.