One of the senior police officers implicated in a leaked tape plotting the removal of Inspector General of Police (IGP) Dr. George Akuffo Dampare says he was surprised when his name came up during the last committee hearing.

According to Superintendent Emmanuel Gyebi, information gathered indicates that the National Investigations Bureau (NIB) had invited persons of interest in the alleged plot to oust the IGP but he was not questioned.

He said, he subsequently reached out to one of his colleagues who was heard on the tape for clarification and was asked to ignore the issue.

"When I heard that my name has been mentioned before the Committee that I was part of the people or I was the person who had agreed to meet that witness at Afrikiko to accompany him to the president, that is when I called Mr. Asare and he told me that this has never happened and he doesn't know why my name is being brought up.

Also read: Leaked tape on IGP: My interest was to protect NPP – Bugri Naabu

"(He added that) they have even been invited earlier on by the NIB, National Investigations Bureau and my name was never mentioned. I have not been invited so that is why I was so surprised that all of a sudden I am hearing that this is what has happened.," he told the Committee.

The explanation by Superintendent Gyebi follows some allegations made before the Committee on Monday.

Appearing as the first witness, Daniel Bugri Naabu, the Paramount Chief of Namong at Yunyoo in the North East Region confirmed his voice on the leaked tape and cited three others he engaged with at his office in Osu.

Mr Naabu also the former Northern Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) said, "One Commander Asare, based at Police Depot, Commissioner of Police (COP) Mensah, currently on leave before his retirement and Gyebi, a Police Superintendent based at the Police Headquarters" whom he had never met before but spoken with on phone, are the officers who engaged him.

He told the Committee that the two senior officers approached him with an agenda to advocate the removal of the Inspector General of Police.

He added, “The reason behind this request, as conveyed by the officers, was that Dr Akuffo Damapre's actions were perceived to align more closely with the interests of the opposition NDC, thereby potentially undermining the ruling party's chances in the upcoming 2024 elections.”

He told the seven-member parliamentary committee probing the issue that his motive for recording the contentious tape was for him to play it to President Akufo-Addo and to protect his party.

Read also: Plot to remove IGP: I recorded the tape to play it to Akufo-Addo – Bugri Naabu

Subsequently, the three officers were requested to appear before the Committee.

But insisting on his innocence, Superintendent Gyebi stressed that despite the ongoing investigation by other government institutions into the leaked tape and the plot to oust the IGP, his name has never come up.

"As I sit here, I have not been invited by anybody," he added.