Former Aduana Stars striker, Yahaya Mohammed, has responded to bribery accusations leveled against him, asserting that the club should acknowledge their shortcomings in team performance.
Dismissing his involvement in an alleged GH₵50,000 bribery scandal, which some fans believe contributed to the team’s defeat against Karela United on Saturday, April 27, 2024, Yahaya Mohammed emphasized that the allegations are merely a distraction from the team’s underlying issues.
He refuted claims of accepting and distributing money to influence the game’s outcome, stating that Aduana’s loss was primarily due to injuries.
“The fact is, Aduana had only two centre-backs available for the game. A boy they promoted from my youth side was injured, and the regular starter was also injured, so they had to convert their third-choice midfielder to play as a centre-back in the game. So the team was weakened because of injuries,” he told Angel TV.
He also mentioned Aduana’s form this season, indicating that the team has not been in good shape; hence, the accusations are attempts to channel the blame on him.
“That aside, how is Aduana’s form this season? How many away games have they played? They’ve won only two away games – RTU and Hearts of Lions.
Check those teams’ positions on the table. So they have to accept that they are out of form. But they don’t want to understand and instead, they are playing blame games.”
The ex-Asante Kotoko striker challenged his accusers to substantiate the bribery allegations.
“They claim I took a bribe. They mentioned Bright Adjei, Sam Adams, and Yaw Ansah as players I shared the money. Why don’t we have a sit-down? Who gave me the money? When did I disburse the money? Prove it.”
He insisted that he would never do such a thing due to the love he had received from Aduana owner Osagyefo Oseadeeyo Agyeman Badu II and the people of Dormaa.
“Do I have the power to fix games? Do you know what Osagyefo has done for me? Do you know what the people of Dormaa have done for me? The team is not weakened, and they have a poor management and technical team. They have the poorest management in Ghana.”
Aduana Stars currently hold the third position in the league standings with 42 points, trailing the league leaders Samartex by 10 points. However, they are experiencing a poor run of form, having lost five and won only two of their last seven matches.