I’m not violent person — Akufo-Addo
The flag bearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has described claims that he is a violent person as a deliberate and false propaganda being employed by his political opponents in the run-up to this year’s general election.
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He said the fact that he resorted to court action instead of violence during the 2012 general election “is a clear indication that I am a peace-loving person, who has the interest of the country at heart.
“If I were truly a violent person, I could perhaps have caused an inferno to engulf the nation in the aftermath of the disputed election results of 2012 and the close nature of the Supreme Court’s election petition verdict. I love Ghana more than myself, and that is why nothing of that sort happened.”
Nana Akufo-Addo made the comments when he paid a courtesy call on the newly installed Paramount Chief of the Kumawu Traditional Area in the Ashanti Region, Barima Sarfo Tweneboa Kodua, on Easter Sunday.
No electoral message
The NPP leader said some leading members of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) had resorted to attacking his personality in their bid to score cheap political points because the NDC government lacked a convincing electoral message and a solid record of performance, a situation worsened by the widespread corruption and unprecedented levels of economic difficulties and hardships.
“Everyone in Ghana will attest to the fact that I am a very patient man. Patience is one of my characteristics. I am not and have never been a violent person. My opponents, for their selfish political interests, spew out falsehoods in their bid to smear my reputation. It has not worked and it will not work, because Ghanaians have seen through the lies,” he said.
Arrest
The NPP flag bearer’s comments come in the wake of recent arrests of three South African retired police officers who were providing training for his security detail and that of is running mate.
The three, Major Ahmed Shaik Haziz, 54; Warrant Officer Denver Dwayhe, 33, and Captain Mlungiseli Jokani, have been charged with three counts of conspiracy to commit crime, unlawful training and making false declaration.
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They have, however, been granted bail by the Accra Circuit Court.
NPP demands release of South Africans
Meanwhile, Abdul Aziz and Yakubu Abdul Jalil report that the NPP has called for the immediate release of the three South Africans in accordance with the orders of the courts of the land.
The party has also demanded the immediate legal and medical access for Captain Edmund Koda (retd), the head of the private security detail for the NPP flag bearer, Nana Akufo-Addo, who is under arrest.
However, as at press time the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) had released Captain Koda.
The ex-serviceman has been in BNI custody since Thursday over his alleged role in the invitation of the three ex-police officers from South Africa to train the internal security personnel of the party.
Victimisation
But speaking at a press conference in Accra yesterday, the Greater Accra Regional Chairman of NPP, Mr Ishmael Ashietey, called on President John Dramani Mahama to stop “this obvious act of political victimisation and criminalisation.”
He said the President should take his hand of manipulation away from the work of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) and other state security agencies to allow them to perform their work professionally.