Former CID boss grieves removal from office; ‘I feel so sad’

Former Director General of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), COP Mr. Bright Oduro, has said a directive that abruptly asked him to retire was unfair.

COP Oduro was abruptly asked to proceed on leave last Friday, October 13, 2017,  three months ahead of his retirement on January 3, 2018.

He reveals that he was only "ordered to hand over," by the Inspector-General of Police, David Asante-Apeatu.

"[The IGP] did not give any reason. He only said it was a Cabinet decision that I leave office," said COP Oduro. 

He has been replaced by Deputy Director of CID, Maame Yaa Tiwaa Addo-Danquah, whose tenure starts Wednesday, October 18, 2017.

In an exclusive interview he granted to Joy News, Mr. Oduro said the order asking him to proceed on leave connotes wrongdoing, a situation he says causes him extreme discontent.

“I feel so sad and it pains me. Sad in the sense that, 29 years getting to 30 years, my career is cut short by ‘proceed on leave’. ‘Proceed on leave’ connotes wrong doing on my part.

“That is the sad aspect of it, otherwise I am ok. But I feel I have not been treated fairly considering what I did in the Police Service," he laments.

“We felt that he would stop”

Outspoken Member of Parliament for Assin Central, Mr. Kennedy Agyapong has alleged many times on different media platforms that COP Oduro has been protecting and shielding land guards and other criminals.

Mr. Agyapong for the past six months has repeated these and other allegations and questioned why COP was still at post.

However, COP Oduro said on hindsight, he should have acted to quell the claims.

"How would somebody who has stayed in the service for 29 years encourage land guards to visit mayhem or to beat people...I don’t know how somebody of my calibre will even be tagged with such a thing, but that was what happened.

"I am going to look at the tapes that are already in circulation. Of course, he has said so many things but I have the opportunity to examine some of the things," he said.

Asked why he did not tackle the allegations head-on early on, he explained: “We [Police administration] felt that he would stop”.

He is confident it is not too late to clear his name.

"It is not too late because if I am determined to prove that I have been unfairly treated or I have been a subject of ridicule, insult lambasting and so on, I can take any action," he averred.

 

 

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