Prophet Nkansah Grabbed

AN ACCRA Circuit Court yesterday remanded Prophet Daniel Yaw Nkansah, founder of the New Vision Party (NVP) into police custody over an alleged robbery. According to the police, the �controversial� man of God cum politician had been hiding since February, compelling the court to issue a bench warrant for his arrest. Prophet Nkansah, who doubles as head of the New Vision Pentecostal Church in Accra, is facing six counts of conspiracy to rob and robbery with his son, Daniel Boahene Nkansah Jnr and eight others � two of whom are currently at large. Prophet Nkansah, who spotted grey suit was handcuffed and followed closely by a stern-looking police officer. The suspects are said to have robbed one Stephen Ped Andam, a tenant in Prophet Nkansah�s store at Atico Junction in Accra, of his Samsung S4, iPhone, Dell laptop with charger, cheque books, international driver�s licence, certificates, iPad 32GB and an amount of GH�55,000 on February 1. Prophet Nkansah, with the connivance of his son and the 10 others, are also alleged to have bolted with a Blackberry Q10 mobile phone and GH�500 belonging to one Geshon Essel, while another person, Billy Apeku Ken, also claims his Samsung mobile phone, Dell laptop and GH�750 are missing. The fourth complainant, Isaac Tetteh Korgbey, is also accusing the man of God and the others of the disappearance of his Dell laptop and Sony video camera. One Emmanuel Nana Kwaku Badu has also complained of his missing wallet containing GH�1,000 and I.D. cards. When the case was called at the court, presided over by Francis Obiri yesterday, Prophet Nkansah pleaded not guilty to all the charges. He was accordingly remanded into police custody to reappear on June 2, after a bail application by his counsel was refused by the judge. Nkansah Jnr had also pleaded not guilty to the charges. Facts According to the prosecution, the complainants � Geshon Essel, Billy Apeku Ken, Isaac Tetteh Korgbey and Emmanuel Nana Kwaku Budu � are workers of XY Canis Majoris Company Limited. The first complainant (Stephen Ped Andam) is the Chief Executive Officer of the company located at Atico, the prosecution said. According to Inspector Emmanuel Afful, Nkansah Jnr. is a student and that Andam, in December last year, rented four stores from Prophet Nkansah for a period of 10 years and paid GH�111,680 as rent advance. The prosecutor told the court that on February 1, 2014, Andam and his workers approached Nkansah Jnr. as agreed with Prophet Nkansah, to vacate the store to enable them to move in, but this resulted in an exchange of words. Andam and his workers finally went back into the three stores to start the day�s work. Nkansah Jnr. called to inform his father [Prophet Nkansah] who rushed to the scene and left after discussions with his son. Inspector Afful said that Prophet Nkansah returned a few minutes later with a group of young men, numbering about 10, onboard his pickup, armed with cutlasses and other lethal weapons, and together they attacked the complainants in their shops, robbing them of items and money in the process. The case was reported to the police and Nkansah Jnr. was arrested on February 4. During investigations, the Sony video camera was retrieved from him. Inspector Afful disclosed that on April 4, Joseph Tetteh, James Quansah Afful, Otukunor Sackey and Emmanuel Salami Azumah � the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th accused persons � were arrested. He said on 13 and 29 April, the 7th and 10th accused persons � Samuel Kweku, alias Sammy Tuga and Richard Annor Baidoo, aka Anold, were also nabbed respectively. Attempted Bribery Even before his recent alleged attempted bribery of a senior officer of the Electoral Commission (EC), Prophet Nkansah had been declared wanted by an Accra Circuit Court for allegedly swindling an Accra-based trader. For years, his details had been published in the police gazette over several fraudulent deals. In 2009, an Accra-based auto distribution company reported him to the police, claiming the middle-aged cleric had swindled it. Prophet Nkansah allegedly bought a pickup from the auto dealer for his political campaign but failed to honour his part of the bargain. He later abandoned it with an excuse that it was faulty and that he was no longer interested in buying it. On Monday, October 25, 2010, he was reported to have jumped over a fence wall to outwit the police who had been detailed to arrest him.