Yaw Buabeng Asamoah, Director of Communications of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has indicated that pockets of violence observed at some polling stations in yesterday’s by-election in the Ayawaso West Wuogon Constituency were the handiwork of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) to discredit the polls.
Following reports of violence in the constituency, he told the media that “this is a hugely orchestrated attempt by the NDC because they knew from the beginning that they were going to lose.”
The Communications Director of the party, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Adentan, derided Sam George’s claim that he sustained gunshots, saying the Ningo Prampram MP is alive and kicking.
“Were the guns pointed directly at him? As we speak, Sam George is alive. He has not been to the hospital, and yet he told the world that several rounds of ammunition were shot at him. If this was not orchestrated, then what else could have been orchestrated,” Mr Asamoah added.
He re-echoed what had been gathered from security agents that an NDC activist reportedly fired at a cop who returned fire.
NDC Confused
The NDC hurriedly organised a press conference at its Adabraka Headquarters but it turned chaotic as party supporters disrupted the activity.
Some of the party supporters were heard shouting and shoving one another to get the chance to make statements.
When eventually the party Chairman Ofosu Ampofo managed to speak somewhat, he announced the party’s withdrawal from the polls, citing assault of their supporters.
The residence of their candidate, he said, was besieged by strange persons who displayed an AK 47 and rounds of ammunition, claiming there was evidence of the attack the NDC suffered in the constituency.
According to him, Edem Agbana, NDC Deputy National Youth Organiser, was attacked at the Legon Hall of the University of Ghana by persons he claimed to be NPP thugs.
Hoodlums In Constituency
Information reaching DAILY GUIDE indicates that some NDC hoodlums brought from other parts of the country fired at some policemen who went to the residence of the candidate upon hearing about their intention to mar the polls.
The cops returned fire and injured some of the hoodlums following which the party’s online activists went overdrive to send false stories about deaths.
Earlier media reports exposed the plan to disrupt the polls, having already posted a mendacious story about ballot papers embossed with the discarded logo of the Electoral Commission (EC).
A video, which was posted on social media, showed a man placing spent shells in a reddish fluid in a desperate attempt to present the substance as the blood of an injured person.
The incident, which occurred in the early hours of yesterday, was limited to the candidate of the NDC, and nowhere near any of the polling stations in the constituency.
In earlier report exposing the Plan B of the NDC in the by-election, it was clear that the polls would suffer chaotic scenes when the party unfurled its dirty operations.
Vigilantes Link
One of the lies spread on social media by the NDC was that the NPP had deployed vigilantes at the polling stations.
It turned out that the men in combat gear whose pictures they spread on social media were part of the Special Weapons and Tactical Unit (SWAT), one of the many units of the Ghana Police Service.
Cops in such gear are hardly seen around, hence the swiftness to describe them as part of NPP’s bad guys specially brought in to disrupt the polls in which the stakes were too high for the ruling party to want to scuttle.
Individual countries in the world have specialized police units that engage in an assortment of operations such as bomb disposal, anti-terrorism operations and so on.
In Ghana, some of the operation units include the Striking Force, Buffalo Unit, SWAT, Formed Police Unit (FPU), and in Nigeria the Mobile Police Force, Police Bomb Squad and others.
Indeed, the National Security Council has a detachment of police that undertake special operations for the Council.
All the specialized uniforms were designed under the previous NDC administration with their peculiar operations gear.
Personnel of one of the units do not even shave as required by para-military establishments.
The same uniform, which the NDC claim belonged to NPP vigilante group, was worn by some cops who rendered protection to the former President John Mahama when he was in office.
One observer queried, “So what makes the uniform an Invincible Force gear?”
Mahama In The Fray
Ex-President John Mahama, who was campaigning in the Volta Region at the time, announced yesterday that he was suspending his mission to go to Ayawaso West Wuogon Constituency to assess the situation.
It sounded ironic for a leading figure of the NDC to assess the situation in the constituency at the time of a boycott of the polls by the same party.
NDC Boycott
At midday yesterday, the same NDC elements were going around the constituency urging their members to go out to vote massively for their candidate although the party’s leadership had announced a boycott.
One analyst said, “In any case having voted halfway it made no sense to boycott the polls midway.”
Ofosu Ampofo’s Narrative
NDC Chairman Ofosu Ampofo, as part of his party’s grand scheme to present a favourable optic for the grouping, claimed their candidate was virtually under house arrest.
He also said that Sofo Azorka, a leading NDC person, who played a violent role in the by-election which occurred in Talensi when they were in power, was attacked in his house at East Legon.
His narrative feeds into the claim that Azorka Boys and others from Asawase in Kumasi were brought to Accra to create confusion during the by-election.
“What have Azorka and his boys been doing in Accra other than causing what they know how to do best-mayhem and carnage?” another observer quizzed.
Sam George In Action
Sam George, MP for Ningo Prampram, was seen in a video charging at a policeman so daringly that he received a few slaps which saw him staggering.
Mr. George, it would be recalled, created a similar confusion when he locked horns with the then sitting MP for the Ningo Prampram Constituency, ET Mensah in the NDC’s own parliamentary primary.
His violent behaviour in the constituency yesterday did not surprise many people.
Exaggeration
Many Ghanaians soon discovered that the picture of mayhem in the Ayawaso West Wuogon Constituency appeared to be an exaggeration.
Talensi, Atiwa and Chereponi
The by-elections, which took place in the aforementioned constituencies during the tenure of the NDC, were characterized by unusual violence, with some party personalities armed with weapons fuelled by a smelling impunity.
Anita De-Souza’s Impunity
The four persons, who were run over by the vehicle of Anita De-Souza, then NDC Women Organiser in the Atiwa by-election, have still not received justice.
That was on September 6, 2010 at the height of the NDC’s impunity and abuse of office.
The four victims of Anita revealed how the ash Toyota Prado four-wheel drive with registration number GE 5440-10 maimed them. According to reports, the vehicle, at the time of the incident, was being driven by a certain Akwasi Ernest, who failed to report the incident to the police.
NDC Violence Dotted Bye-Elections
All by-elections during the NDC regime were characterized by violence orchestrated by the party and the records are available for perusal. Yesterday’s by-election was devoid of such violence, save the short-lived shooting incident at the residence of the NDC candidate.
Police Statement
The police stated yesterday that calm had been restored to the area and that the six injured persons were receiving treatment at the Legon and 37 Military hospitals.
The IGP also directed the Director-General of CID to speed up investigations into the incident and urged residents in the constituency to remain calm.
The above is ample evidence that there was no death in the constituency as mischievously disseminated by the NDC social media activists.
As at press time yesterday, the NPP’s Lydia Seyram Alhassan was on course to retain the seat for the ruling party.
Provisional results showed she was leading almost all the polling stations.
The seat became vacant following the untimely death of her husband Emmanuel Agyarko.
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