President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was saddened by the attacks on a Kumasi Circuit Court by members of the Delta Force, a private security arm within the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Eugene Arhin, Press Secretary to the President, has said.

According to him, following the event, the president has directed the institutions of state to deal effectively with the incident and prevent such acts from recurring as a way of protecting the rule of law.

Speaking in an interview with Class 91.3FM’s Kwesi Parker-Wilson minutes after the president addressed the press at the Peduase Lodge on Monday April 10, Mr Arhin said: “Certainly, as a party that believes in the rule of law, what happened in Kumasi last week was something that should not have happened. The president clearly was not happy at all about it.

“When it happened he directed the various state agencies to act. This is a country that respects the rule of law, a country that builds on institutions of state. So yes, that [the attack] can be described as a dent on the image but we have the institutions of state working to ensure that the rule of law is enforced in the country.”

Counsel for the eight accused persons said to have aided the escape of 13 members of the Delta Force from lawful custody have told a Kumasi Circuit Court that the accused persons have nothing to do with last Thursday’s incident.

Mr Gary Nimako, who led a team of six lawyers to represent the accused persons in court on Monday morning, said they were not members of the Delta Force vigilante group which has links to the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

He said the eight were nowhere near the KMA Circuit Court on the day the incident happened and were not arrested at the court premises but were picked up at Fante New Town, which is far away from the KMA Circuit Court where the alleged incident took place.

It was his case that the accused persons can, therefore, not be held liable for the offence levelled against them.

The eight were arraigned Monday morning on charges of disturbing a court session, resisting arrest, and rescuing persons in lawful custody, Graphic Online's Donald Ato Dapatem reported.

They all pleaded not guilty.

Mr Nimako said the media had blown the case of the accused persons out of proportion and that he will subsequently prove the innocence of the accused persons in court.

He applied for bail but the court refused and remanded them in prison custody until Tuesday, April 18, 2017.