Editorial News of Tuesday, 7 August 2001

Source:  

Huudu's Benz case drags on.

The case involving the General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Alhaji Huudu Yahaya and one Fred Oware over a Mercedes Benz saloon car has taken another turn.

The Independent says it gathered that as at Monday evening the police was still unable to retrieve the said car from the Alhaji although he had promised to send it to them by then.

A police source hinted the paper on the telephone that Alhaji Yahaya’s lawyer came to the police headquarters around 4.15 p.m. to collect the letter covering the sale of the Benz from the custom excise and preventive service (CEPS).

According to the source, the lawyer requested for the said letter in order to make informed choice together with his client. He, however, did not report back.

The police source however, said it is believed that the police could hear a favourable response from Huudu’s camp.

Alhaji Yahaya was invited last Thursday to help the police find lasting solution to the disputed Benz currently in his custody.

The paper in its July 12 edition reported of how the owner of the disputed Benz salon car stormed the NDC headquarters to demand his car from the NDC scribe. In an apparent fit of anger, Oware stormed out of the NDC headquarters and informed the police of Huudu’s unwillingness to return the car although he had assured the police to release it to their custody.

The police had on countless occasions entered into a gentleman agreement with the NDC scribe to return the Benz car to the owner, adding that they took that decision because the CEPS had informed them that there was institutional error in allocating the vehicle to Alhaji Yahaya.

Oware’s three cars imported into the country, it was gathered, were seized and sold to government functionaries in the run-up to the 2000 elections.