18 years down memory lane, Ex-President Jerry John Rawlings has revived the controversial 5-million Abacha saga that was reported by the then Crusading Guide newspaper in November, 1998.
The newspaper had leveled a "bribery" allegation against the former President when one Ismalia Gwarzo visited the Ghanaian Head of State to personally hand over an alleged sum of 5 million dollars to him.
The report dubbed "The Alleged $5m Abacha Money...Ismalia Gwarzo Still Talking" indicated that "Ismalia Gwarzo divulged details of his 1996 visit to Accra, claiming he “personally handed over the 5 million dollars in physical cash to the Ghanaian Head of State.
"According to the grapevine sources, Gwarzo has revealed how the whole deal was allegedly struck in Accra, Ghana to some media circles investigating the financial transactions and dealings of the discredited Abacha regime." the Crusading Guide reported.
The newspaper further disclosed that close sources from Nigerian had also revealed that "Gwarzo has given names of those present when he allegedly delivered the cash to the Ghanaian Head of State. He has mentioned 2 prominent Ghanaian State Officials, one of them, a Deputy Minister of State as eye witnesses to the delivery of the $5m physical cash."
Years later, Ex-President Rawlings has discounted the amount involved in the deal, stating emphatically that it was rather 2 million dollars that was given to him by Gwarzo.
“So I was at the Air Force Station when a gentleman came over there and when he said he had a message from Abacha, I cancelled my flight and they set out to wait for me. I drove after them to the Castle. As we were about to move up, this elderly gentleman, Gwarzo he is called, had one of his Assistants try to bring out a suitcase from the boot of a car. I had an idea of what it could be…His Assistant then went and brought in the parcel: 2 million Dollars: new notes packed in plastic bags, fairly heavy”
This therefore contradicts the reports by the Crusading Guide in 1998.
Addressing the issue on Peace FM's Kokrokoo, the Editor-in-Chief of the New Crusading Guide (then Crusading Guide) Abdul Malik Kweku Baako has insisted that Mr. Rawlings indeed collected a whopping 5 million dollars from Gwarzo and not 2 million as stipulated by the former President.
Kweku Baako noted that Mr. Rawlings has come out to debunk the reports because there are some grapevine reports that the present Head of State of Nigeria, Mohammadu Buhari is engaging in some swooping exercise in his government.
According to him, President Buhari has started a probe into all cases of bribery and "names are popping up. Incidents are popping up. I have also heard they will be consolidating all those things and make them public."
He suspected a smart move by Mr. Rawlings to preempt the probe by President Buhari, purportedly to clear his name.
"Our own President Rawlings is seeking to do a pre-emptive strike ahead of that official disclosure...Rawlings thinks he’s smart.”
Mr. Baako further debunked the claims by Mr. Rawlings, saying he collected the money to "do some few things here and there; activities. So, you can’t tell whether it’s campaign or whether it’s for the party or even the government that was needing money for certain things. Either way, it’s not true. The money came November 1996. The thing got exposed in 1998 but Gwarzo 1996.”
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