Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Bernard Antwi Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, has described his detention at the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) as a near-death experience.
Wontumi, who was arrested on May 27, 2025, after being invited by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) over alleged offences including fraud, causing financial loss to the state, and money laundering, said the conditions of his confinement left him both physically and psychologically distressed.
Speaking during former Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia’s campaign tour of the Adansi Asokwa constituency on September 10, Wontumi painted a grim picture of his ordeal.
“When I was arrested by EOCO, if you move your legs three times, that’s the width of the place where I was kept. If you look at where I slept, I nearly died,” he said.
He added that beyond the physical discomfort, he felt spiritually close to death.
“If someone is about to die, you would know. You would see your relatives who have already passed away. You would begin to sense their presence around you, which literally means you are about to join them,” he explained.
Wontumi went further to liken his experience to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, recalling a moment he believed paralleled Christ’s final cry on the cross.
“I felt the presence of death around me in the place I was kept, just like when Jesus Christ shouted, ‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani.’ That’s when I also shouted, *‘People of Ghana, arise! Ghana, arise! It is because of you that I am being treated this way,’” he recounted.
His comments come amid persistent claims by several NPP figures that the Mahama-led governmentis persecuting opposition members and sympathisers ahead of the December 2025 elections.
