NDC firebrand Dr. Tony Aidoo has threatened to quit the party if its executives dare him. The former defence minister is embroiled in a war of words with his fellow party executives. He has accused party chairman Dr. Obed Asamoah of being oligarchic in his grip of the party.
He has also criticized the party in its investigation into allegations of impropriety against former general secretary Dr. Josiah Ayerh who has been interdicted. Following his criticisms on an Accra based radio station, Dr. Aidoo has been summoned to appear before a disciplinary committee of the party to explain his alleged disparaging remarks. But Dr. Aidoo maintained his attack on the party's leadership in his response to the summons.
"Who is bringing the party's image into disrepute, who eh, a chairman who makes revelations to the public before he even informs his won party members, a chairman who does not show respect for his own national executive committee and yet expects to be shown respect. A chairman who reserves to himself the right to criticise others but considers his own conduct to have immunity from criticisms so that if a party member criticise him, he hold him before the disciplinary committee. I don't want to be a member of a party of this nature," he said.
Dr. Aidoo says he may not appear before the disciplinary committee if he is dissatisfied with the selection of members on it. "It depends on how it is constituted and the extent to which the charges brought against me would be allowed to be examined. I am not going to submit myself to a process, which will not respond to the rule of law. I have not seen Dr Josiah Aryeh since the last rally of the NDC in December.
Indeed, Dr Josiah Aryeh will be the last person I, Tony Aidoo will stand in public and defend because if I was to go into my private relationship with Dr Josiah Aryeh, it will seem strange that I am defending him today. I am defending the constitution of the party," he said.
Another ranking member of the party, Haruna Iddrisu, MP for Tamale South also joined the discussion on Joy FM's Super Morning Show to react to Dr. Aidoo's scathing rebuttal to the party's summons. "The NDC is not impervious to criticisms and the NDC is not intolerant of criticisms coming from within the party. What the NDC will not tolerate or the likes of me will not tolerate is abuses and insults held by some other persons in the party.
Dr Tony Aidoo once upon a time was on Radio Gold describing party functional executives as stupid. He described the national propaganda secretary as hopeless. Now the views Dr Tony Aidoo is articulating publicly now, he brought them to the national executive committee level and unsuccessfully failed to convince the committee to adopt his thinking on this matter," he said.
Meanwhile, the apparent standoff between Dr. Aidoo and the NDC leadership has attracted comments from party supporters and sympathizers some of who defended his actions while others cautioned restraint. " Who decides who should criticise others in the NDC, you see Dr Asamoah made a very disparaging remark about Prof Atta Mills and nobody is talking about it. Dr Obed Asamoah has just started his campaign. He is trying to remove all the people who will vote against him from the party."
"We NDC people we don't understand, when you criticize somebody, they claim you are insulting the person. You supported Dr Kwesi Botchwey and you were working against Prof Mills. And after the elections, on your station he repeated what he said on 2002. Is Prof Mills not a human being? So what Dr Tony Aidoo said, is it a crime; is Dr Tony Aidoo the first person to go on air and attack national executives or functional executives?
What about their women organizer who goes round to insult everybody including the founder. Nobody tells her anything. We should know how to criticise the founder and the chairman so that democracy will exist in the party."
