EOCO bid to arrest Manhyia South MP at Accra court ends in scuffle and police complaint

Pinned summary · as of 06:12

Enoch Afoakwa, member of the NPP Legal Team alleged that Officers of the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) tried to detain Nana Agyei Baffour Awuah, the MP for Manhyia South, at the Accra High Court on Wednesday, 23 September, only for the attempt to collapse in a confrontation. It came moments after the lawmaker had argued a case in the courtroom for a senior nursing officer. A fellow lawyer says he was hit in the melee and has since reported the matter to the police.

What we know

• EOCO staff tried to take Nana Agyei Baffour Awuah into custody on 23 September at the Accra High Court, right after he had appeared there as lawyer for a senior nursing officer.
• The MP did not submit to the arrest. The standoff turned physical, with lawyers and EOCO officers caught up in a scuffle on the court grounds.
• Enoch Afoakwa, who sits on the NPP legal team, alleges that a female officer struck him during the incident. "The lady punched me in my face," he said.
• Mr Afoakwa says he lodged a formal complaint with the police, received a police medical form and was examined at a hospital. He told a television interview on Saturday, 26 September that he would pass everything to the police and leave the next step to them.

What's disputed / unconfirmed

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  EOCO's own version, as relayed by The Custodian, is that the arrest attempt was tied to a probe still under way, after the MP allegedly skipped two summonses issued in February 2026. Mr Baffour Awuah rejects this. He says the February letters concerned his earlier role as senior partner in a law firm that acted for SIC Life Savings and Loans Company Limited. No other report has verified either account.
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  The NPP Minority in Parliament accused EOCO of abusing state power and of a wider pattern of intimidating opposition MPs and citizens. It asked for the legal basis and the officer's identity, and said it would petition Parliament's Committee on Privileges and Immunities. These are the Minority's claims, reported only by The Custodian, and EOCO has not answered them in the reports available.
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  According to The Custodian, the Minority tied the episode to its push for Parliament to be recalled over cocaine seizures, including about 3.9 tonnes found at France's Port of Dunkirk on 10 September in a container of plastic waste from Ghana. The Minority said it did not claim to know EOCO's motive. No other report has repeated this link.
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  Onua Online quoted two lawyers. Kwasi Kwarteng, an NPP communications team member, said EOCO must operate within the law and mishandled the timing. Martin Kpebu argued the agency should have gone through the Speaker and that resisting an unlawful arrest is lawful. These are their personal views and have not been reported elsewhere.
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  Onua Online reported that the Ghana Bar Association voiced serious concern in a 24 September statement and said videos of the confrontation showed a second lawyer, Enoch Anhwere Afoakwa, complaining of assault by a person EOCO later acknowledged as its officer. Only this report attributes that acknowledgement to EOCO.
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  The Custodian reported that police have charged the nursing officer with abetment of crime over alleged false news linked to the Ghana Jollof account, that a circuit court remanded her for two weeks after a not-guilty plea, and that her defence team says the investigation is complete. These points come from one report and the charge remains an allegation.

Why it matters for Ghana

The clash puts a spotlight on how state investigators handle lawmakers and lawyers who are working inside court premises, an issue that touches anyone relying on counsel in a Ghanaian court. The police inquiry into Mr Afoakwa's complaint, and any response from EOCO and Parliament, will show how such disputes are resolved. Reports say the episode has already prompted public debate about the procedures officers are expected to follow.