General News of Wednesday, 26 September 2001

Source: .

Ex-NPP chairman denies causing a stir at police station

Former Chairman of the ruling NPP, Samuel Odoi-Sykes has denied causing a stir at the Osu Police Station in his attempt to unravel the reason behind the arrest of a foreman working on his mother-in-law’s property as reported by the Chronicle.

Mr. Odoi-Sykes who admitted being angry with the police personnel on duty, however stated that he never threatened any of them with dismissal saying, the police were after all doing their official duty. He also insisted that his action, which he claimed did not last more than ten minutes, did not attract any crowd as reported by the paper.

“There was no quarrel between me and the police. It’s a blatant lie, I’ll be the last person to throw my weight about, stated the former party chairman.

The Canada-bound High Commissioner explained that he lost his cool after he visited the Osu police station where a foreman, Michael Ayivi had been sent by the police, particularly because the foreman’s name could not even be traced in the station’s diary.

Touching on the land under dispute, Mr. Odoi-Sykes said it belonged to his mother-in-law, Madam Elizabeth Adukwei Glover. He said the mother-in-law bought the land in 1949 and was given an indenture to that effect by the late Justice Nii Armah after which the land was registered at the then Gold Coast deeds registry in 1950.

Meanwhile, litigation over the land, which led to the arrest of Mr. Ayivi, the foreman working on the land is currently pending before an Accra High Court, which has placed an interlocutory injunction on all activities on the land.