Marcellinus Biah, the lawyer for private legal practitioner, Martin Kpebu, has described his client’s detention at the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) on Wednesday, December 3, as “an unnecessary show of power.”
Biah said Kpebu arrived at the OSP around 2 p.m. to cooperate with investigations into allegations he had made against the office.
“When they were not ready, Martin decided to grant an interview to the media, which interview was granted outside the premises of the OSP. So he was done with his media interview and then he returned to the premises of the OSP,” Biah explained on the Channel One Newsroom.
It was at the entrance that a police officer objected to the media interview, prompting Kpebu to challenge the officers.
“Martin challenged them on grounds that he has every right to grant an interview, more particularly when it was not held within the premises of the OSP. A military officer who did not have a name tag joined the police officer in the confrontation. I was a bit of a distance away from where they were. There were verbal exchanges,” Biah said.
Biah added that Kpebu attempted to make a formal complaint about the officers’ behaviour, but was told the complaint centre was unavailable.
“We were told we should attend to the invitation and then return, by which time they were very certain that the complaint center would be available to take our complaints,” he said.
At the enquiry board, Biah said they raised concerns about verbal abuse at the gate.
“We were surprised when they returned to tell us that Martin was under arrest for obstructing an officer of the OSP at the entrance. That is the charge for which Martin was arrested,” he said.
Regarding bail, Biah said Kpebu was required to provide a landed property in his name and one surety.
“The OSP office is a ten-minute drive from Martin’s office, so I had directions from him to pick a landed document from his table and present it to the OSP. Just when I drove across to our office and picked the document and returned, I was told Martin was taken away. Not at all—I haven’t established where he’s been taken to. All I was told was Martin is no longer available at the OSP. That is it. Where he is, no one is willing to answer that question,” Biah said.
Describing the incident as deeply troubling, Biah called on Ghanaians to speak out.
“We are still looking for Martin, so we decided to do a man search. We are moving from one police station to another to find out where Martin is actually being kept. Ghanaians should come out in their numbers to condemn this act, and it is something that we should not accept as a growing democracy,” he said.
Read also
