Editor-In-Chief of the New Crusading Guide Newspaper, Abdul-Malik Kweku Baako has alleged that the person behind the video of president Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo allegedly taking bribe blackmailed and extorted monies from some bigwigs of the New Patriotic Party with the video.
Abdul-Malik Kweku Baako, who claimed the originator of the video is one Salis Yakubu Atsuluho of the ‘The Salis Newspaper’, stated that the said Atsuluho is notorious for secretly recording the private activities of people and either resorting to blackmailing the individuals involved for money or selling them to other interested parties.
According to him, the video was secretly recorded by Mr. Atsuluho in October, 2016 at the Nima residence of the then opposition leader, Nana Addo. He claimed Mr. Atsuluho who intended to extort monies with the video doctored the original one.
Mr. Atsuluho, he added, then contacted some leading members of the NPP who for fear of the damning consequences of the video on the image and electoral fortunes of the president, should it be made public, paid monies to him for the video to be concealed.
“It (the video) has been twisted and doctored. This gentleman, Salis Yakubu Atsuluho, is the guy behind ‘The Salis Newspaper’. He is the guy who did the secret recording of candidate Akufo-Addo. He titled the documentary of the secret recording ‘Who Watches the Watchman 2,” he said.
He added “he does these things (secret recordings) and sells them. This boy recorded Akufo-Addo. Unfortunately for him, we have the original. Don’t ask me how we got it. So when he decided to do the fake one in order to blackmail and collect monies and in fact, he actually collected monies from some people who didn’t know that the video is fake. There are people in the NPP who out of panic began dealing with him.”
The veteran Journalist claimed he had influenced the employment of Mr. Atsuluho by Anas Areyaw Anas’ Tiger Eye PI but he was dismissed by Anas about 5 months into his employment.
Mr. Atsuluho, he added, setup his own company and started engaging in alleged fraudulent activities.
“I introduced him to Anas and he became member of Tiger Eye PI. And in 4, 5 months, Anas dismissed him. This was 2006. Then he set up his own group,” he claimed.
Kweku Baako further alleged that Mr. Atsuluho masterminded attacks on Anas Aremeyaw Anas and later produced a documentary dubbed ‘Who Watches the Watchman’ to smear the image of the investigative journalist. He added that Mr. Atsuluho had also lied about him secretly recording president Akufo-Addo when he was being shown excerpts of the ‘Number 12’ documentary by Mr. Anas.
In a documentary video produced by ‘The Salis Newspaper’ and was displayed by the NDC on Adom TV, president Akufo-Addo is seen receiving a brown envelope. According to the documentary, the brown contained an amount of $40,000 intended to bribe the president not to dismiss Alhaji Abass Awolu, Director of Urban Roads.
But the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has dismissed the allegations contained in the documentary describing it as doctored. It has since released a video, which it claimed, is the original video footage of the incident. Per the NPP’s video, the incident is a donation to the 2016 campaign of president Akufo-Addo.
