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Oliver Barker-Vormawor, a convener of the #FixTheCountry movement, has been recounting his ordeal at the Ashaiman police cell when he was arrested and detained for making comments described as treasonable on his Facebook timeline.
He had posted on his timeline that he will organise a coup if the controversial Electronic Transfer Levy, E-Levy, is passed into law.
Recounting how he was arrested at the airport on February 11 by some armed military personnel, Barker-Vormawor told Unprovoked, a channel on YouTube that, he felt that day was his last day on earth.
He explained, “I arrived in this country around 5.00 pm on Friday, February 11, I was detained by the immigration for about 30 minutes, persons in the military armed to the teeth and persons in plainclothes – non were in police uniforms – came to pick me up at the airport [Kotoka International Airport]; for over 5 hours, I was beaten up, [they] stepped on me, spat on me; I consider those to be torture…
“…I was blindfolded and being driven out of the airport. Anytime I asked the personnel where I was being taken to, I get a slap for it, so, I genuinely believed that I was going to be killed because I did not know where I was being taken to.
“While we were going, I could sense we were no longer in Accra [because there was no traffic], I could sense that perhaps this is the motorway. My instincts were telling me that I was going to be killed at Bundase; eventually, we parked and I had to reorient myself that perhaps this is a police station and even that, I did not know which police station it was…”
Barker-Vormawor noted that when his lawyers, Akoto Ampaw and Dr Justice Sai, came to the police station, they pressed on the police for him to be released but the police stated otherwise.
He said the police called for reinforcement from both the police and military because they claimed that members from the #FixTheCountry movement will force their way into the cell and release him.
Oliver Barker-Vormawor recounted an interesting thing that happened to him on the night before he was taken to the Ashaiman District Court.
He said, “on the night before I was taken to court, they introduced a gentleman into the cell at around 10.00 pm – I believe that he works with the national security – immediately this new guy came, I told the guys at the cell that ‘I think this guy works with the national security but they doubted.
“The cell leaders questioned the guy and he claimed that he was into importing but he got his cheque bounced and he was arrested. I asked, which bank opens at 10.00 pm…This new guy will get up [in the middle of the night] and try to complain. He was trying to get access to where I was sitting, then the inmates will push him back.”
Barker-Vormawor continued: “After some time, the Commander for Ashaiman police station came down and said the guy had left his bread so, he is bringing it to him. The guys [inmates] took the bread and as they were presenting it to this new guy, they pressed down the bread and realised that there was a knife and phone in the bread.
“[At the time], I was lying down and didn’t know this, so, the guys started running to me and congratulating me but I didn’t know what was going on…they told me about it eventually and I felt the phone was already recording us. I told them to put the phone in water and one of them said they can give it to someone to sell it.
“Later, one of them got angry and dismantled the phone. I asked for the serial number and type of sim card in the phone and they hid it in my dress…and the phone was disposed off in a rubber into the cell dustbin…around 6.00 am, the police came into the cell with the Crime Officer after they had called the [new] guy out for some time so when they came into the cell armed and was asking; where is the phone? where is the phone? The inmates then asked which phone; [but they did not respond].”
Oliver Barker-Vormawor further stated that two of the cell leaders were summoned to be interrogated and they had to tell the police how they disposed of the phone in the dustbin.
“When my lawyers came, I gave them the sim card and the serial number of the phone to see whose name it was registered but the number was disconnected that the time,” he observed.
