UFP fights NPP over ¢5bn ‘bribe’

Claims by the embattled chairman of the Kumasi-based United Front Party (UFP), Mr. Akwasi Addai, popularly known as “Odike”, that some leading members of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) made monetary offer of GH¢ 500,000 plus a contract deal at the Jubilee Oil Fields, has incurred the wrath of NPP executives in the Ashanti region.

Odike, whose claim to the ownership of the Party is being hotly contested by some other founding members, revealed during a meeting with some executives of the party that a delegation from the NPP had made contacts with him, in an attempt to convince him to back down on the decision to form the party.

In the said meeting, which Odike claimed to have had with a founding member of the NPP in Kumasi, Mr. George Ayisi Boateng and the former CEO of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Dr. Nsiah Asare, the beleaguered UFP leader said the two NPP leading members offered to give him GH¢500,000 (Five Hundred Thousand Ghana cedis), which is Five billion old Ghana cedis, plus a contract deal at the Jubilee Oil Fields, should he abandon his political ambition and support NPP to win power.

According to the UFP leader, he rejected the offer put forward by the NPP emissaries, who are reportedly acting on behalf of the flag bearer of the party, Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo-Addo.

The interim General Secretary of the party, Mr. Samuel Ose, revealed during questioning by the chairman last week on Angel FM, that Odike told them at a meeting that the NPP had made an offer to him, in an attempt to convince him to drop the idea of forming the new party. But the founding member of the NPP, Mr. Ayisi Boateng has rebuffed Odike’s claims, describing it as ridiculous and a figment of his own imagination.

Speaking to The Chronicle in an interview, Mr. Ayisi Boateng said even though he, together with Dr. Nsiah Asare had a meeting with the UFP leader, it was at Odike’s own instance and not the other way round.

According to him, it was Odike who arranged to have a meeting with them at the Golden Tulip Hotel in Kumasi, ostensibly to explain the reason behind the formation of the new party.

The NPP founding member said that during the said meeting, there was no discussion about money exchanging hands, neither was there any promise of any oil contract and, therefore, finds the assertion by the UFP chairman highly preposterous.“I find it outrageous to comprehend that a party in opposition will make such a sumptuous offer to an individual, to the tune of a whopping 5 billion Ghana cedis and an oil contract; how possible,” he lamented.

Describing the allegations as a total fabrication and attention grabbing move, Mr. Ayisi Boateng challenged the UFP to produce evidence to buttress their claim, stressing that “the NPP is not intimidated by the so-called party (UFP) to make such a desperate decision.”

He noted that even though as a leading member of the NPP, he believes that politics is about numbers and would have preferred to have members of the UFP in their fold.The NPP founding member also cleared the air on the alleged involvement of two NPP executives in the Ashanti Region, including the Regional youth Organizer, Gideon Boako and the Mampong Constituency Youth Organizer, Dennis Kwakwa, in the formation of the UFP.

According to him, the seeming involvement of the two youth activists was a strategic move, orchestrated by him to elicit information from the new party.

Mr. Ayisi Boateng explained that they deliberately planted the two in the scheme of things, and they liaised with the Regional Youth Organizer in the gathering of information from the party. “I planted the two young guys to espionage for the NPP, and I must admit that the two did a marvelous job by giving us information as to the real people behind the formation of the party.”

He indicated that the intelligent work carried out by the two NPP executives led to the discovery of information like the constitution, manifesto and logo of the party, while some members of the NPP who had initially planned to join the UFP backtracked after getting the information. “Nobody should fault the NPP guys and align them with the UFP; they were charged to perform intelligence work and they have done it to the best of their ability,” he stressed.