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Azaam Baajour, brother of the Lebanese business, Mahran Mustapha Baajour who was reportedly held for months, has confirmed that his brother was indeed abducted when he arrived at the Kotoka International Airport.
According to him, the brother was picked up by some uniformed officials wielding guns.
"Per the driver who was supposed to pick him up, four cars stopped them with guns and uniforms and took them to a place not known," he said in an interview on Citi Eyewitness News, Tuesday.
He further disclosed that his brother has been admitted at the hospital because of the trauma he went through at the hands of those who abducted him in Ghana.
Mahran Baajour
Mahran Mustapha Baajour, according to the Minority in Parliament who released a statement on his abduction, is a Lebanese businessman who reportedly arrived in Ghana from Lebanon on a business visit on December 13, 2018.
However, upon his arrival, he was not seen or heard from again until his surreptitious release on Monday.
According to Azaam, Mahran arrived in Lebanon on Monday, 25th March; adding, "it’s very difficult to understand what happened to him, because he’s a businessman and travels to different countries. It surprises us what happened to him in Ghana".
Click audio above to listen to Azaam.
Minority's Initial statement
The Minority, in their first statement, had indicated that "immediately after arriving at the Kotoka International Airport on December 13, 2018, Mahran Mustapha Baajour and his two Ghanaian hosts who welcomed him at the airport were arrested at the precincts of the airport just when they were about departing in their Toyota salon vehicle with registration number GN 6126 - 15 by persons claiming to be operatives of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI).
“After all three were kept in detention for six days in violation of Ghanaian law, our understanding is that Mahran's two hosts, one Razak Abdul and another were then released as free men while Mahran was kept in detention. This is the reason Mahran's family and officials from his country are having a hard time believing denials and claims of innocence by Ghanaian Government officials they have contacted”
Government's rebuttal
However, government in a reply denied that the businessman had been abducted in the country describing the minority's claims as "false, unfounded and holding no truth".
"credible checks conducted at the National Security and Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration affirm beyond a doubt that no such person had arrived at the Kotoka International Airport, contrary to the palpably false accounts given by the Ranking Member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs..." the statement which was signed by Member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, John Ntim Fordjour added.
Minority second statement
But the Ranking Member on Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, in a post on his facebook page, swiftly fired back accusing the ruling government of attempting to 'cover up their shame', adding that 'the earlier they admit their mistake, the better'.
"The Minority in Parliament has become aware of an ignominious and undignified statement by a member of the Majority side of the Committee on Foreign Affairs seeking in a most pathetic effort to deny the obvious abduction and disappearance of Mahran Mustapha Baajour, a Lebanese businessman who arrived in Ghana on 13th December, 2018.
"We note that the desperate statement which lacked any modicum of morality and truth was signed by Rev. John Ntim Fordjour. One wonders if our Honourable colleague, a Reverend Minister still believes in the sacrosanct John 8:32 - "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."
"For the avoidance of doubt, the Minority in Parliament firmly stands by all the facts as presented in our release of 24th March, 2019 as they remain the incontrovertible and unimpeachable truth," the post added.
Source: Rebecca Addo Tetteh/Peacefmonline.com
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Identity? Mention them. Where was the brother when the abduction was taking place? Did he report to the Police? This Communist Inferior Tactics must stop.
IS IT THAT WE DON'T UNDERSTAND THE WORD ABDUCTION OR JUST WANT TO MISLEAD GHANAIANS? I REFUSE TO BE A SPECTATOR BUT A CITIZEN
GHANA IS BEING DESTROYED BY OUR OWN SELVES. WHY, WHY WHY? LORD HAVE MERCY. OOOOH OKUDZETO ABLAKWA, GIVE US VERIFIABLE EVIDENCE LIKE THE GUYS PASSPORT, AIR TICKET, REPORT BY THOSE WHO WERE RELEASED ETC. GHANA IS THE ONLY COUNTRY WE HAVE. THE EVILL THAT MEN DO LIVES AFTER THEM. LONG LIVE GHANA.
Ablakwa stop all this angel acts. you spend $250,000.00 on your teeth alone, what about that. give a break. nothing is working for you, and is not going to work for you. that pull me down
Per Ofosu Ampofu's tape,series of those lies will come out and city fm will be contacted to carry out the reportage. So no wonder they are serving their pay master.
ABLAKWA SHOULD PROVIDE THE GUY TO ITS FAMILY, AND THE BROTHER OF THE MAN, BECAUSE ABLAKWA IS THE ONLY PERSON WHO KNOWS ABOUT THIS CASE. AND IT COULD BE THAT HE HAD ARRANGED WITH SOME ONE TO COME AND LIE TO GHANAIANS. ABLAKWA AND HIS NDC CAN HIRE ANYBODY TO DO ANYTHING TO DISTURB GHANA GOVERNMENT. HOW COME ONLY ABLAKWA KNEW THIS KIDNAP CASE AND NO ONE ELSE
In fact, Kennedy Agyepong was right about NPP people being ***barred word***. You have heard the brother of the man abducted confirming that indeed he was abducted yet you are here saying Ablakwa is lying that he was abducted. What kind of crass ***barred word*** is this?
CLEARLY WE ALL KNOW THE LYING RECORD OF ABLAKWA AND HIS NDC. FOR ALL YOU KNOW HE IS CONSULTING FOR THE LEBANESE FOR A COMMISSION ON THE FUNDS THE GUY WAS BRINGING THE NDC
Why is Ablakwa so hyper-concerned about a foreigner? strange things happen in Ghana.
IT IS ONLY GOD WHO KNOWS THE TRUTH . BUT IF OKUDZETO ABLAKWA AND NDC IS TRYING TO PAINT GHANA BLACK TO THE INTERNATIONAL WORLD ALL IN THE NAME OF TRYING TO COME BACK TO POWER THEN THAT IS EVIL. BECAUSE THE GHANA OUR MOTHERLAND YOU ARE TRYING TARNISH ITS IMAGE AND BLACKMAIL IS THE SAME COUNTRY YOU COME FROM .. I REMEMBER THIS SAME OKUDZETO ABLAKWA THE MOMENT PRESIDENT NANA AKKUFO ADDO TOOK OFFICE HE BROUGHT SOME SERIOUS NEWS THAT GHANAIANS ARE ON FRONT-LINE FIGHTING FOR ISIS IN LYBIA .. WHY ARE YOU DOING THAT OKUDZETO ABLAKWA .. BE VERY CAREFUL ABOUT DISGRACING GHANA ..