“J.J.’s man is missing”, says the lead headline of the Weekly Insight. The Accompanying story says members of the family of Eddie Mends, a member of the erstwhile National Investigation Committee (NIC) have no doubt that the authorities who hated his guts, have dispatched him to an unmarked grave. “He was too honest for their liking and his crusade against corruption in the early days of the revolution, was a source of worry for some in the leadership. I am not surprised that they eventually framed him up and killed him”, the Weekly Insight quotes a close relative of Eddie Mends as saying. According to the paper Eddie was last seen or heard of 10 years ago, when he was accused of plotting with Major Courage Quarshigah (rtd) and others to overthrow the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) then chaired by Flt-Lt Jerry Rawlings. The paper says Quarshigah, Squadron- Leader Eddie Akakpo and a couple of others were arrested, detained and later released after the government issued a statement to the effect that Quarshigah’s parents had been asked to advise him to abandon the path of subversion. Eddie Mends’ parents, the Weekly Insight says, insist that he was also picked up from home and was initially detained at the headquarters of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) but security sources say that he escaped arrest and has not been traced since. The paper quotes Ted Gbodo, a close friend of Eddie’s as saying: “I am fed up with all these cock and bull stories. Eddie was arrested and there is no doubt that he was kept in the cells at the BNI headquarters. Somebody has to explain what happened to him”.
