Akufo-Addo, Afari Gyan roommate argument is a fallacy – Kweku Baako

Managing Editor of the New Crusading Guide, Abdul Malik Kweku Baako Jnr. has scoffed at the attempt by the third respondent in the ongoing presidential election petition to make the past relationship between Nana Akufo-Addo and Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan an issue in court.

He said the argument about the two [Nana, Afari-Gyan] being roommates during their days as students of the University of Ghana, and attempts to connect the two in relation to the court case makes it a "fallacy".

Kweku Baako was reacting to an allusion made by the spokesperson for the third respondent, Nana Ato Dadzie that given the cordial relationship between the two since school days, there was no way Afari-Gyan could have denied Nana Addo victory in election 2012.

He added that Nana Akufo-Addo threw away the many years of friendship between him and Afari-Gyan after he accused his roommate of rigging the December 7 presidential election in favour of ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC).

Ato Dadzie’s comment follow an inquiry by counsel for the third respondent, Tsatsu Tsikata, during his cross-examination of the Chairman of the Electoral Commission (EC), Dr. Afari-Gyan [second respondent], where Tsatsu asked whether Afari-Gyan knew Akufo-Addo on a personal level.

The EC boss admitted Akufo-Addo was his roommate at Legon hall, adding: "nothing unsavory has ever happened or taken place between the two of us".

Nana Ato Dadzie believes Afari-Gyan’s admission of a cordial relationship with Nana Akufo-Addo will help their case in court.

On the contrary, Kweku Baako, an unofficial panel member of Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen programme on Wednesday, disagrees, and he fired a text message to express that during the programme.

"How logical and sustainable is this theory of 'roommatism' by Nana Ato Dadzie" he quizzed.

Kweku Baako said, the erroneous impression being created about the friendship between Akufo-Addo and Afari-Gyan is a "fallacy".

The New Crusading Guide boss said the fact that both men were close buddies in school does not mean an illegality should not be challenged in court.

To buttress his point, Kweku Baako cited former President Jerry John Rawlings and Major rtd Osahene Boakye Gyan as an example.

"Boakye Gyan and JJ were close buddies. The former [Boakye Gyan] became the latter’s [Rawlings’] best man, but what happen subsequently, they fell out via politics. JJ’s PNDC executed Boakye Gyan’s brother in 1987".