NIB boss refutes claims of returning acquired state land; threatens to sue Kpebu

Nana Attobrah Quaicoe, the Director-General, has dismissed claims by Martin Kpebu, a private legal practitioner and member of Operations Recover All Loots (ORAL), that he has returned illegally acquired state land, describing the assertion as a blatant falsehood that deserves to be treated with the contempt it warrants.

Mr. Quaicoe has, therefore, urged the public to disregard these false statements, which he says are calculated to damage his hard-earned reputation. He has also called on Mr. Kpebu to retract the baseless and defamatory claims.

The NIB boss has threatened to take legal action to protect his name and rights if Mr. Kpabu fails to retract and apologize. He emphasized that he has never contacted or engaged with any member of the ORAL committee, contrary to the claims being made to mislead the public.

He specifically clarified that he has not contacted Hon. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa regarding any government land, refuting the claims made by Mr. Martin Kpebu, a member of the committee.

Mr. Quaicoe, through his lawyers, Saviour Quarcoo Kudze of Kudze, Kudze@Law, issued an undated press statement titled, “RE: NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE BUREAU (NIB) DIRECTOR-GENERAL DENIES ALLEGATION OF CONTACTING OPERATION RECOVER ALL LOOT (ORAL) COMMITTEE.”

According to Mr. Kudze, the defamatory statement, which has no iota of truth, was made on Keypoints, a Saturday morning television show aired on TV3, and was subsequently republished by multiple media outlets.

“Our client has neither contacted nor engaged any member of the ORAL committee, particularly Hon. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa in relation to any government land, contrary to the claims by Mr Martin Kpebu, himself a member of the  team,” the statement reads.

The statement further stated that “We urge the public to disregard these false statements calculated to injured our client’s reputation and call on the private legal practitioner, Martin Kpebu, to retract the utterly false and defamatory statements published about our client, failing which our client may resort to necessary legal action to vindicate his name and rights.

Meanwhile, Mr. Kpebu acknowledged that his claims were based on secondhand information provided by Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the Member of Parliament for North Tongu and Chairman of the ORAL Committee.

 Ablakwa, from the opposition, has been actively exposing and advocating for the recovery of looted state assets.

The private legal practitioner clarified that his comments on the show represent his personal opinions and not the collective stance of the four-member committee, which includes Nathan Kofi Boakye and Raymond Archer.

His remarks were in response to a question from the host, Alfred Ocansey, about whether the committee had been approached by individuals voluntarily returning looted state lands. He confirmed this was the case but emphasized that the ORAL team is still in the preliminary stage of its work.

He noted that their current mandate does not include the recovery of looted state properties. However, the NIB boss had reportedly called Mr. Ablakwa, expressing his willingness to relinquish his interest in a piece of land he acquired at Agric Extension land , Accra.

“He [Quaicoe], because of the advocacy Hon. Okudzeto is doing on the matter, called Okudzeto and said, ‘I’m returning my land… leave me out of this. I’m not interested.’ That is what Hon. Okudzeto said. Attobrah has also stated he is no longer interested in the land,” Mr. Kpebu explained emphatically.

Mr. Kpebu added that the team is currently focused on establishing the facts in the preliminary phase. The second phase, which will involve the actual recovery of looted properties, is yet to commence.