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The Deputy Minister of Trade, Murtala Mohammed, has rendered an unqualified apology to the President and Ghanaians in general for his recent radio outbursts.

Incensed by what he says are attempts by some MPs to unseat him, and daring them to do their worse, Mr Mohammed alleged that his detractors had gone to the extreme of bribing chiefs and opinion leaders in the Northern Region with "filthy, ill-gotten money". 

Though he would not mention names when he spoke to Diamond FM last week, Murtala also threatened to expose an MP who is conniving with a woman to take nude pictures of a cabinet minister.

Although Mr Mohammed has apologised for his harsh public outburst, the Northern Regional Secretariat of the NDC has given an indication that the root cause of the minister's actions must be investigated. 

Repentance
According to a Joy News report, the Northern Regional Communications Officer of the party, Abdul Mumin Alhassan, has said although the party has acknowledged and accepted Mr Murtala's repentance, the matter must not end there.

 "Now that Honourable Murtala Mohammed has officially apologised to the party, apologised to the Presidency and all Ghanaians, we have accepted the apology in good faith. We will have a regional executive meeting to look at the issues that came up because the root cause of his outburst has not been dealt with,” said Mr Alhassan.

“It is pathetic, absolutely pathetic; it's unethical, it's so funny, it's so stupid, it's so silly, it's nasty, it's un-Islamic for people in the same party to be sitting down and their intention is about how they can get someone out of Parliament,” the Deputy Minister stated. 

His comments attracted an avalanche of public criticisms which caused the Chief of Staff to summon him along with the unnamed MP, according to media reports. 

However, in a statement of apology on Saturday, Murtala Mohammed said his utterances were necessitated by deep pain. 

“I wish to acknowledge that I could have handled the matter better rather than an outburst, which was as a result of deep pain occasioned by events over the years,” he said. 

The deputy trade minister also debunked a Facebook post which was attributed to him after his tirade.