As the National Democratic Congress (NDC) parliamentary candidate for Ayawaso West Wuogon faces backlash over his controversial comment referring to Lydia Seyram Alhassan as a "bloody widow," a previous incident involving the candidate has resurfaced.

GhanaWeb revisits the 2020 controversy surrounding John Dumelo, who was embroiled in a scandal involving a V8 vehicle. The vehicle, which was later revealed to be state property, sparked significant debate and criticism at the time.

Read the article originally published by GhanaWeb on June 25, 2020, below:

It appears that John Dumelo, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) parliamentary nominee for Ayawaso West Wuogon has not been truthful with his narration of how he got the controversial Land Cruiser V8 vehicle which later turned out to be a property of the state.

Dumelo in two separate interviews has given two different and contradictory accounts of how he acquired the vehicle.

During his first narrative, three years ago, on Joy News, the actor stated that at a regular routine maintenance of the vehicle in question, he had a call from a National Security operative stating that the vehicle he had bought belonged to the state.

“In February, I had just gone for my routine maintenance, check-up, servicing and I went back home. I got a call and they were saying some people were by the car saying the car is for the state and I asked how is that possible? So I called the people I bought it from and I asked what was going on…I went to the servicing area and they said the car is for the state and I said ok take it; they took it, went back for my money and that was the end of story,” he narrated.

But now on Citi TV, the actor cum politician says there were scratches on the vehicle so his mechanic advised that they spray the car to a different colour, to which he agreed.

He explained that he was at home when he was called by his mechanic asking him to come over because some National Security operative had requested his presence.

“I got there and they said for this vehicle (sic), it’s for the National Security. I asked for an explanation and they entered the chassis number and then in the chassis number it read ‘imported for the National Security’…” John Dumelo told Citi News on Tuesday, June 23, 2020.

He explained that he called the gentleman that sold the SUV to him and told him what the National Security operatives were saying. Then the seller replied that he would get back to him because he wanted to deal with the National Security first.

Dumelo explained further that after that initial interaction with National Security, the security operatives began harassing him, then eventually, they took the vehicle away.

The Actor said that at the point he was paying for the Toyota Land Cruiser; he was not told the vehicle belonged to the government of Ghana; All he was told was: “John when you finish paying, we do the change of ownership”.

When the host asked whether he was benefiting from his association with the government at the time, Dumelo responded that he paid for the vehicle.

When asked why he did not fight for something that he had paid for Dumelo explained that he spoke to the person that sold the vehicle to him who assured him that he will sort out the matter.

“After two to three months, I paid my balance and I bought a new car,” he said.

When asked if he does not believe that what he was doing was fraudulent, Dumelo stated emphatically: “there was nothing fraudulent about it.”

NAY