Director of Operations for the United Party (UP), Hopeson Yaovi Adorye, has announced his intentions to picket at the headquarters of the Homeland Security in the US to demand Ofori-Atta’s extradition.
He says he will organise Ghanaians to issue placards at the Security’s secretariat to demand the return of the former Finance Minister to account for the charges levelled against him.
The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) is seeking to extradite Ken Ofori-Atta, a former Finance Minister under the Akufo-Addo administration, from the US to face charges related to procurement decisions made during his tenure.
Speaking on Onua TV’s morning show, Maakye, on Wednesday, July 22, 2026, Mr. Adorye, a former member of the NPP, indicated that he will personally pursue the extradition of the former President’s cousin to account for his stewardship.
“I want to assure all Ghanaians that Ofori-Atta will be pursued. In September I’ll be in US and I’m going to organise a very big picketing at the head office of the homeland security. We’ll use placards and indicate we want Ofori-Atta back home,” he said in Twi.
His comments come on the back of a ruling by a U.S. Immigration court ruling that the OSP failed to provide persuasive evidence to implicate Ofori-Atta in any wrongdoing.
Adorye criticised the ruling, explaining the verdict had nothing to do with Ghana’s extradition request for Ofori-Atta, but rather with his immigration issues with the U.S. government.
Mr. Adorye alleged that the judge introduced the matter in his ruling because Ofori-Atta was his mate at the university.
“Ofori-Atta didn’t go to court over the extradition. He went to court because he has stayed in the US for long and has immigration issues after his visa expired. The judge is Ofori-Atta’s classmate at Yale University, so he just threw that in his ruling to paint him in a good light. The extradition matter is yet to be tried by the US court,” Adorye alleged.
The U.S. immigration judge’s ruling comes despite a more than 200-page affidavit and over 70 charges filed against Ofori-Atta in Ghana.
Immigration Judge David Gardey delivered the finding from the bench on June 15, 2026, at the Annandale Immigration Court, at the close of a contested hearing in which the Department of Homeland Security argued Ofori-Atta should be denied relief in the U.S. because of the pending Ghanaian charges.
The judge disagreed, and granted his application for adjustment of status. 3News has since obtained a certified copy of the transcript of proceedings.
The case was decided on a single question: had Ofori-Atta, who ran Ghana’s finance ministry from 2017 to 2024, engaged in criminal wrongdoing tied to a state contract with SML, a firm hired to boost revenue collection from downstream petroleum transactions? The OSP’s affidavit, Exhibit 5 in the case, alleged deep corruption. Ghanaian prosecutors followed up with formal charges which were submitted to the court as Exhibit 6, accusing Ofori-Atta of more than 70 counts of criminal wrongdoing.
Judge Gardey wasn’t persuaded by any of it.
“The court carefully reviewed the Office of the Special Prosecutor’s affidavit and the court finds that the affidavit is lacking in any persuasive proof or evidence that the respondent… has engaged in any criminal wrongdoing as alleged, as minister of finance or otherwise, or that the respondent personally profited from his work as a government official in Ghana.”
He went further, calling the absence of hard evidence itself a meaningful data point:
“The lack of any persuasive evidence indicating any kind of criminal wrongdoing or criminal conspiracy involving the respondent in the OSP’s affidavit is powerful evidence. The respondent has not been credibly charged or credibly been shown to engage in any wrongdoing in Ghana.”
And on the charge sheet itself:
“The OSP affidavit is full of conclusory allegations without any description of credible or reliable facts that would indicate any kind of criminal wrongdoing by the respondent.”
“In contrast, the Respondent has testified credibly and denied that he received anything of value from any of the entities involved in the OSP investigations, either to reward or influence his actions as public official or that he personally profited in any way from his actions as a government official in the country of Ghana”
The ruling also focused on Interpol’s own reversal of an earlier red notice. Ghana had secured the red notice against Ofori-Atta tied to the OSP charges, but Interpol’s Commission for the Control of Files (CCF) deleted it in February 2026, finding it “predominantly political.” Dr. Bromund, an Interpol expert who testified for the defense, walked the court through that finding, which the judge cited as independent corroboration that the case against Ofori-Atta didn’t hold up.
The judge also pointed to a KPMG review commissioned by the government of Ghana, which “found that there were instances where there were inefficiencies or better practices that could have been undertaken but there was no indication of any kind of criminal wrongdoing by the respondent or his staff.”
Extradition request
The court then commented on what it deemed to be silence from the US Government on the extradition request.
“The court is not surprised, given that the court’s own review of the OSP affidavit does not indicate any persuasive evidence of any criminal wrongdoing by the respondent… the lack of any criminal complaint for purposes of extradition indicates that the Department of Justice also has trouble finding any indication of any credible claims of criminal wrongdoing by the respondent.”
US immigration judge’s ruling on Ofori-Atta undermines Ghana’s judicial independence – Kpebu
