Your Son Facilitated My Release From Jail
– Grateful Alhaji Osman Tells Buipewura
A former deputy national security coordinator, under the erstwhile John Mahama administration, Dagbunwura Alhaji Salifu Mimina Osman, who was jailed sometime in 2020 for causing financial loss to the state in the National Communication Authority (NCA) scandal, has expressed his appreciation to Mr. Samuel Abu Jinapor, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Damongo and Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, for facilitating his release from prison.
Alhaji Osman, who was recently granted a presidential pardon on health grounds, said, when it matters most for him, it was Hon. Abu Jinapor, who intervened to ensure his release, a moment he would be thankful for.
He was speaking at the palace of the paramount chief of the Buipe traditional area, Buipewura Abdulai Abdulai Jinapor (II),who happens to be the father of Mr. Jinapor, when he paid a visit to the chief to help him extend his appreciations to his son.
Alhaji Mohammed Muniru Limuna, a former minister for agriculture, who spoke on behalf of Chief Alhaji Osman Mimina at the forecourt of the palace of the Buipewura, said the visit to the palace is at the blind side of the Damongo MP.
He said they would have been grateful, even if he was released with an hour left for him to complete his sentence, adding that, when the issue was raised about helping Alhaji Osman out, he was the one Alhaji Osman called on to intervene, nkilgifmonline.com reports.
He added that there was an issue that came up in the National Communication Authority (NCA), which saw Alhaji Osman imprisoned for about five years which they needed to get Presidential pardon for him.
Alhaji Muniru said, ”When the issue arose, Hon. Jinapor did not sleep over it and has been the one on it until chief Alhaji Osman was released for us and that is the appreciation we came to give to Buipewura.”
Alhaji Limuna indicated that, seeing them in the palace is to bring Mr. Abu Jinapor’s greetings and appreciation to his father, the Buipewura, to extend to him for the favour he has done Dagbunwura.
President Nana Akufo-Addo, in consultation with the Council of State, granted a presidential pardon to the former deputy national security coordinator under the presidency of John Mahama, following a petition from the chief of the Kpembe traditional area, requesting that Alhaji Osman be freed from prison custody on the grounds of good behavior and ill-health.
In a letter dated August 1, 2023, and signed by the secretary to President Nana Bediatuo Asante, the President charged the Minister for the Interior to take the necessary steps to give effect to the presidential pardon immediately.
Background
Chief Alhaji Salifu Mimina Osman, a son of the Kpembe traditional area, was sentenced to a five-year jail term in 2020 for willfully causing financial loss to the state in what has become known as the National Communications Authority (NCA) scandal.
On May 11, 2020, three former board members of the National Communications Authority (NCA) were sentenced to a total of 16 years’ imprisonment with hard labour by an Accra High Court for misapplying funds in the purchase of controversial surveillance equipment for the National Security Council Secretariat.
Eugene Baffoe-Bonnie, a former Board Chairman; William Mathew Tetteh-Tevie, a former Director General; and Alhaji Salifu Osman Mimina, a former Deputy National Security Coordinator on the NCA Board, were found guilty of 14 different charges, including causing financial loss to the state and contravention of the Public Procurement Act, by the court, presided over by Justice Eric Kyei Baffour, a Court of Appeal judge sitting as a High Court judge.
The court also ordered the seizure of the properties of the convicts to defray the US$3million financial loss caused to the state.
Source:Anchorghana.com
