Akuapem Poloo and 9 Ghanaian musicians and showbiz personalities who were sent to prison for various crimes (+Photos)

Akuapem Poloo’s jail sentence brouhaha over the publication of nvd!ty on social media with her then 7-year-old son sparked so much rage on the internet with many rooting for release which was granted a few days ago.

Akuapem Poloo pleaded guilty on her second appearance in court and was put behind bars on Friday, April 16, 2021, by an Accra circuit court for posting a nvde photo of herself and her seven-year-old son on his birthday back on June 30, 2020.

But this is not the first time a showbiz personality in Ghana has been sentenced for committing an offence.

Below is a list of Ghanaians creative arts people who have served a jail sentence before.

1. Daasebre Gyamenah

Daasebre
Daasebre

Ghanaian highlife musician, Daasebre Gyamena was jailed in 2006 in the United Kingdom for attempting to smuggle cocaine into the United Kingdom (UK) when he disembarked from the British Airways flight from Accra.

The singer was acquitted of narcotic offences last Friday after a jury hearing his case returned a not guilty verdict.

Reports from the Heathrow Airport at that time indicated that on their routine checks on passengers arriving at the airport, customs officials, aided by sniffer dogs, picked out the suitcase of the Ghanaian musician.

According to a spokesman for the Customs and Excise at the Heathrow Airport in London, Mr Bob Geiger, Daasebre Gyamena had in his possession two kilograms of the suspected substance concealed in his suitcase.

He said the street value of the substance was about £100,000.

Gyamena was subsequently charged for attempting to smuggle cocaine into the UK and was arraigned before the Uxbridge Magistrate’s court in London, where he was remanded in custody to reappear in seven days.

He was released from jail in 2007 and passed away on July 27, 2016.

2. G-Man

Popularly known as G-Man, Nana Akwasi Agyemang was one of Ghana’s finest dancers and musicians who had immense skills in playing the piano, drums, and guitar.

He released four albums between 1986 and 1992. His greatest hit Highlife in G major was released in 1986.

In 1995, he shot the taxi driver during a scuffle. According to G-Man, he never meant to kill the driver but threatened him to reverse a curse he placed on him and his friend Abieku Nyame alias Jagger P after picking sand from their footsteps. He was sentenced to death by hanging in 1995 but was granted a presidential pardon in 2009 by former president John Agyekum Kufuor. He spent 14 years in jail.

He is currently serving as a pastor.

3. Exopa Boss – Ibrahim Sima

Ibrahim Sima was the Chief Executive Officer of the Exopa Modelling Agency.

According to a JoyNews report, the EXOPA boss was arrested on September 7, 2009, at the Kotoka International Airport when a luggage search revealed tubers of yam in which were embedded narcotic substances.

Ibrahim was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment in 2011 for the attempted narcotics smuggling.

Chief Public Relations Officer of the Ghana Prisons Service at that time, DSP Vitalis Aiyia explained that the convicted CEO was playing football when he collided with the goalkeeper but did not complain of injuries at the time.

Later in the evening he started complaining of pains and was rushed to the Nsawam Government Hospital where his situation deteriorated. He was sent to the Police Hospital where he died.

4. Kwaw Kese

Kwaw Kese
Hiplife musician, Kwaw Kese, in 2014 was arrested and jailed in Kumasi for smoking a drug believed to be marijuana.

Kwaw was in Kumasi and performed at Kumasi based Luv FM’s Old Sku Reunion on Saturday, November 23, 2014, was arrested around 2 am Sunday morning at a popular open hangout called Plus 2 (Ahodwo) where he was smoking marijuana with a group of friends.

High Court judge William Boampong sentenced Kwaw Kese to a day in jail and ordered him to pay a fine of Gh¢1,200.

Kwaw Kese paid the fine and served the one-day jail sentence.

The musician was on remand for over a month at the Kumasi Central Prison before he was bailed on December 30, 2014.

5. Isaac Abeiku Aidoo – CEO of Goodies Music

The CEO of Goodies Music, Isaac Abeiku Aidoo was, on November 26, 2008, sentenced to serve 13 years in jail with hard labour by an Accra Circuit Court for possessing 80 pellets of cocaine.

The trial judge at the time, Mr. Mahamadu Iddrissu pronounced the sentence after it took the prosecution about six months to gather evidence against the ace Music producer.

Before going to prison, Goodies produced a tall list of other hiplife artists like Tic Tac, Sydney, Lord Kenya, Nana Kwame, Mzbel and a lot of others.

He also worked on collaborative projects between some Ghanaian and Nigerian artists, including 2Face and Tony Tetuila.

Mr. Aidoo was released from the Nsawam Prison on Tuesday, December 23, 2014.

Renamed Goodies Music International (GMI), the record label is now headquartered in Belgium, even though it is also well-grounded in Ghana; it is legally registered as a record label in Belgium.

With this new consolidation, Goodies Music International can currently boast of new state-of-the-art recording studios in Ghana, Belgium, and the United States of America (USA).

6. Deeba

Ghanaian musician-Akyampong popularly known as Deeba shot to fame during the early days of hiplife with his popular tune-Deeba.

He was arrested by Interpol after a long search, for allegedly defiling his 8-year-old stepdaughter of his fiancee in the United Kingdom, between 2006 till 2008.

A legal document in relation to this case mentions that Deeba returned to Ghana from the United Kingdom after living in the UK with his fiancée, with who he has two biological kids. It is during his two years stay in the United Kingdom (2006-2008) that he is alleged to have committed this inhumane act on the 8-year-old stepdaughter and then fled to Ghana.

7. Ramzy Amui

In 2010, William Ramzy Amui aka Ramzy, first runner-up in the first edition of a music reality show, Stars of the Future was sentenced to 10-year imprisonment with hard labour by the Tema High court presided over by Justice Peter Offei.

In 2007, Ramzy and eight others pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy, armed robbery and dishonesty receiving under Article 29, Clause 146 of the criminal code.

With four months to the end of his term, he filed an appeal which landed him 10 more years after the appeal failed. However, by some divine intervention, he was released after 10 years on December 29 last year.

Before his incarceration, Ramzy was fast rising in the Ghanaian music industry. He placed second at the Stars of the Future in 2006 and also auditioned for the M-net West Africa Idol contest in Nigeria in 2007.

He was arrested only a few days before the date he was scheduled to go and compete in Nigeria. He was released on December 29, 2017.

Ramzy who is now a minister of God has songs like ‘Ekemi Ye’ and ‘Asumdwee’.

8. Popular bouncer Shaka Zulu

Richard Kwabena aka Shaka Zulu, a bouncer and a popular face on television, was jailed in 2013 by an Accra High Court for robbery.

Shaka Zulu was sentenced by the Court along with three others to 30 years imprisonment each for robbery.

They were said to have violently robbed a businessman, Clever Omwarihiren, at gunpoint at Baatsona on the Spintex Road in Accra.

Shaka Zulu and his accomplices, Wise Gray alias Biggie, Abass Baba, a trader, and Paul Owusu alias School Fees, a draughtsman, were found guilty and each handed 15 years for conspiracy to commit a crime and 15 years each for robbery, after the trial judge Justice Charles Quist said he found them guilty of the offence.

9. Showboy

Ghanaian based US rapper and CEO of 2Hype Gang Sam Safo known in showbiz as Showboy was sentenced to six(6) years in prison for stabbing Junior a friend of Shatta Wale in March 2019.

Showboy sometime in 2017, got into a fight with Junior, Shatta Wale’s friend and in the fight, he stabbed him in the stomach. He is currently serving 6 years in prison in the USA.

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