How a well-orchestrated plot landed Ghana FA president Kwesi Nyantakyi in trouble- Today Newspaper reports

Published on: 24 May 2018
How a well-orchestrated plot landed Ghana FA president Kwesi Nyantakyi in trouble- Today Newspaper reports
Kwesi Nyantakyi

A well-orchestrated plot hatched in Accra and prosecuted in St. Regis Bal Harbour Resort  in Miami, in the United States of America (USA)  , has today landed the President of Ghana Football Association (GFA), Kwesi Nyantakyi on the wrong side of the law.

A deputy Chief of Staff, Abu Jinapor last Tuesday announced that the President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa  Akufo-Addo had  ordered the immediate arrest of Mr. Kwesi Nyantekyi for using the name of the President to defraud investors.

That according to the deputy Chief of Staff was captured in the already circulating Anas Aremeyaw Anas investigative video which ironically, is expected to be made public on June 6th, 2018.

Nyantakyi was expected from Rabat,  Morocco  yesterday where he was attending a FIFA/CAF organized programme.

The Master Brain  

The conspiracy against Nyantakyi was plotted in Accra but was shockingly implemented in faraway Miami, Florida,  in the USA  . It was ironically masterminded by a former Nyantakyi protégé who had in recent times turned against the FA chief as he (protégé) guns for the Ghanaian FA presidency.

A major campaign channel of the now-turned Nyantakyi adversary to unseat his one-time god-father is to do everything possible to discredit the FA chief and would stop at nothing, even if the agenda should land Nyantakyi in jail. And he and his cohorts seem to be on course with the “get Nyantakyi out at all cost” rhetoric.

The clique includes an array of football chiefs and others in the same profession as the former Nyantakyi protégé and other allies in football administration.

They include radio sports presenters, top journalists, top radio presenters, regional chairmen of political parties, former sports ministers and other ministers in the previous administrations.

Today is deliberately keeping out their names because the persona of these individuals will form the basis of other stories related to the Nyantakyi saga.

The plot

In one of their numerous meetings, a former Africa representative of Adidas suggested that he could get some African-Americans that he knew since his Adidas days to posit as investors who are interested investing in Ghana football.

According to him, it was a pay back time to nail Nyantakyi whom he alleged sponsored the 2016 electioneering campaign of the then candidate Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic party (NPP)

They quickly contacted one of the regional chairmen of the FA to notify Nyantakyi of the intention of some foreigners who want to invest in football including the sponsorship of the Ghanaian premier league.

A desperate Kwesi Nyantakyi whose tenure is blighted by the lack of sponsorship of the Ghanaian premiership gleefully agreed without considering doing any due diligence on the supposed investors.

What heightened Nyantakyi’s fantasies on the proposed investment was the decision by the investors to consider constructing artificial football fields for the country.

The l St. Regis Bal Harbour Resort Meeting

After a number of telephone and mail conversations, Nyantakyi eventually met with the under-cover investors at St. Regis Bal l in Miami. It was at the said meeting that Nyantakyi touted his prima-donna status in Ghana; not only as a football administration, but also as a top banker and an astute lawyer.

The beleaguered FA chief hinted the under-cover investors that he was a close associate of the Ghanaian President and so it would be very easy for them (investors) to bring in any amount they intend investing in Ghanaian football.

As captured in the Anas video, it was at the said meeting that Nyantakyi requested that the investors could give him $5million to be given to the President and another $3million to the Vice President, Dr. Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia.

Before then, the investors under the instructions of their Ghanaians pay masters had urged them to suggest to Nyantakyi whether it would be prudent to also give some money to the immediate past administration.

Kwesi then jokingly retorted that if they intend sorting out the previous Mahama administration; then the so-called investors should be prepared to offer more to the current administration.  Unaware to Nyantekyi, the under-ground investors were recording every detail of their discussion as per the mandate given to them by their Ghanaian pay-masters.

In fact they used a highly sophisticated bed-room mirror to capture Kwesi’s voice at the meeting.  What is certain though is the fact that neither physical cash nor cheque exchanged hands at the St. Regis Bal  meeting. As captured in the Anas video, it was only the verbal/audio discussion between the two parties that was captured by the fake investors.

But that was all that the Nyantakyi adversaries were looking for. They quickly alerted Anas who immediately contacted the under-cover investors; got the tape recording and included it in his investigative video.

Indeed the Anas investigations although centered mostly around the 2014 World Cup period, it also extended to far as 1999 to discover deals done by some football administrators, club officials, referees etc. Shockingly, none of the scathing series in the Anas video captured the attention of those who have so far watched the tape than the bit about Nyantakyi.

Relationship with President

Our investigations established that there is no standing relationship between the Ghanaian President and the president of the Football Association. Indeed,it was some elements close to the President who were forcing for that relationship, ostensibly for their personal gains.

Our further checks at the Asylum Down headquarters of the ruling NPP government , revealed  that some key national executives of the  governing party benefitted from Nyantakyi’s benevolence in the run-up to the  2016 elections.

According to our sources, they used Mr.  Akufo-Addo’s name to source for funds from people like Nyantakyi.

They therefore thought, our investigations further revealed,  they could benefit some more, if they were  able to stabilize Nyantekyi’s relationship with the President.

The only time the President really got a closer glimpse of Nyantakyi was when the Ghanaian FA chief accompanied FIFA president-Gianni Infantino to the Jubilee House.

And perhaps that explained why the President got upset after watching the Anas video and therefore ordered for Kwesi’s arrest.

By Richmond Duke Keelson & Atta Kwaku Boadi (Today Newspaper)

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