The Ashanti Regional Communications Director of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Paul Kwabena Nyandoh, has made a public appeal to former President John Dramani Mahama and his brother, businessman Ibrahim Mahama, to assist in securing the GH¢50 million bail needed to release Bernard Antwi Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi.
Chairman Wontumi, who serves as the NPP’s Ashanti Regional Chairman, remains in the custody of the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) after his legal team failed to meet the stringent bail requirements imposed 48 hours earlier.
He is currently under investigation for a series of alleged criminal offences, including fraud, money laundering, and causing financial loss to the state. Deputy Attorney General Justice Srem-Sai has disclosed that a second phase of the probe has uncovered alleged links between Wontumi and an international organised crime syndicate.
EOCO’s refusal to release the NPP stalwart has triggered significant political backlash, with the NPP Minority in Parliament accusing the agency and the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) of using the investigation as a tool of political persecution.
Speaking to Oyerapa News outside EOCO’s offices on Thursday, May 29, 2025—where NPP supporters and Minority MPs had gathered in protest—Paul Nyandoh asserted that only the Mahama brothers possessed the financial capacity to provide a landed property worth GH¢50 million, and therefore urged them to come to Wontumi’s aid.
“The person is sick; they should discharge him so that he can take his medication, but they say no. The bail sum of GH¢50 million they are talking about is 500 billion old cedis—that is a huge amount of money. Even if those of us gathered here, including the MPs, were sold, could we raise that amount? If Wontumi and his family head were sold, could they raise that amount?
It is only President John Mahama and his brother Ibrahim Mahama who have that amount of money. So, at this moment, we appeal to John Mahama and Ibrahim to give us the bail amount of GH¢50 million so that Chairman Wontumi can be released. Otherwise, Wontumi will continue being in custody.
All we can do is sit here as we are, because we can’t raise that amount of money. It is a sad situation, but the reality is that it is John Mahama and Ibrahim Mahama who can now boast of such a huge amount of money,” Paul Nyandoh stated.
