Fresh violence looms in NPP...

…As pro Afoko Kandahar boys and pro Nana Invisible Forces set to clash in Accra

A group of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) militia group based in the Northern Region known as the Kandahar Boys is set to storm Accra in a fresh bout of violence in the opposition party.

The well-armed group has issued a stern warning to NPP supporters who it believes are victimizing the party’s National Chairman, Paul Afoko- a Northerner.

According to Organizer of the Tamale based group, Badawi Abdallah, they have found the need to move to the Capital city to protect the National Chairman and his General Secretary Kwabena Agyei Agyepong following the violent attack on them last Tuesday by another group of party militia- the Invisible Forces.

The Republic newspaper’s sources indicate that, currently, these two militant groups in the party have taken sides, and a violent clash would be inevitable if the Kandahar Boys indeed come to Accra- the territory of the Invisible Forces.

Speaking to the media late last week, the Kandahar Boys’ Organizer cited the growing insecurity at the party’s Headquarters as their main reason for a reconnaissance southwards.

“...people like our (Northern) Regional Chairman [Bugri Naabu] must be warned. We will not sit idle for them to continue insulting everyone. He cannot continue talking by-heart and if he does not stop we will have serious problems with him."

“…he is one person who has insulted everyone including President Kufuor, but we will sit down anymore,” Badawi Abdallah said.

The stance of the Kandahar Boys has put the two militant arms of the main opposition party into full perspective. According to Arthur Kennedy, a leading member of party, the Invisible forces which attacked a group of Paul Afoko and Kwabena Agyapong’s bodyguards at the party’s headquarters on Tuesday were doing the bidding of the party’s twice-defeated flagbearer, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo who represents a powerful bloc in the party.

The recent statement of Badawi Abdallah indicates that the Kandahar Boys are more aligned to the other bloc of the NPP’s power base fully represented by John Kwadwo Alan Kyeremanteng (a leading aspirant for the flagbearership race against Akufo-Addo) and strong Ashanti-oriented backers such as Kwadwo Mpianim- who is a close confidant of ex-President John Agyekum Kufuor and Dr. Richard Anane.

The Kandahar boys, formed by the party’s incumbent National Organiser, Alhaji Moctar Bamba. Initially, they were seen as non-aligned to any of the feuding camps within the party since they get support from all these different camps, but that view is rapidly dissolving as tension mounts in the party following the intense turf war by the Ashanti and Akyem divides in the party.

Meanwhile, the Invisible forces, a remnant of Action Troopers, a militia band formed by Lord Commey, the former National Organiser of the party and a staunch supporter of Akufo-Addo, who is now aspiring for the flagbearership of the NPP for the third-time.