[ 2015-11-25 ]

Raid On NPP Offices – Rented Boys Paid GH₵50
The young men who were hired as a back-up group in
the raiding of the New Patriotic Party (NPP)
headquarters on Monday received GH₵50 each
from the organisers.

Nana Yaw, one of the young men who spoke about
their experience to Oman Fm yesterday, said
“we were each given GH₵50 to go for a
party at the NPP headquarters.”

Strangely, organisers of the attack are yet to be
located, apart from media speculations pointing in
the direction of the suspended National Chairman
of the party, Paul Afoko.

Joy Fm quoted police sources as saying the
ringleader of the 12 persons arrested for
ransacking the NPP offices confessed that Paul
Afoko masterminded the dawn raid.

Four party supporters have also written and
submitted a statement to the Police revealing that
they were called and conveyed from Odorkor to the
headquarters at Asylum Down under the impression
that they were attending a party, only for the
mission to be changed on reaching the location.

Narrating how he came to be recruited alongside
others numbering about 100, Nana Yaw said
“we were listening to music at a drinking
spot at Odorkor when a certain man called
Assemblyman came and told us about a party at the
NPP headquarters and that he wanted us to come
along for a fee.”

Buses

He said, “We were conveyed in two buses,
leaving Odorkor at 8:00pm. We were delayed before
finally making it to the NPP headquarters. At
Circle, we stopped at the filling station where
the man who had taken command of the mission, a
certain Tommy, bought bread for us and Rush Energy
Drink. A number of activities took place as we
waited in the bus, all of which consumed a lot of
time.

“We finally made it to the NPP headquarters
between 11:00pm and 1:00am,” he said, adding
that “before getting there, we stopped at a
point and Tommy got down to talk to somebody in a
car which was in the lead.”

Questions

Questions about who was in the car was neither
tolerated nor any efforts at going to see who the
person was, Nana Yaw said.

One of the men was even slapped by Tommy for being
too inquisitive, he added.

“We were given red T-shirts with the NPP
logo embossed on them and this, each of us was
ordered to wear, which we all complied
with,” he said.

Final Movement

Eventually, he said, they reached the NPP
headquarters where according to him, “we
spotted some young persons dressed in similar
NPP-branded T-shirts. We were asked to enter the
building. Upon entering the place, we were
surprised that the venue of a party as we were
told was bereft of sitting places. There were also
no party dignitaries at the place.”

Soldiers

Continuing, Nana Yaw said, “We saw soldiers
in uniform and some weapons which had been emptied
from a sack alongside some machetes, a spectacle
which scared us. Then came an order,
‘Odorkor 20’ out. Some us managed to
get out but those who were unable to make it were
assaulted and suffered knife cuts by those already
inside. Meanwhile the men in military uniform had
left.”

In a related issue, the Ghana Armed Forces has
denied that its men were involved in the sadistic
operation at the main opposition party
headquarters.

Spokesperson for the Armed Forces, Lt Col Aggrey
Quarshie said none of his men was involved in the
invasion at the NPP head office.
“The Armed Forces has not officially
sanctioned anybody to do anything at the NPP
headquarters and we are waiting for the police to
come out with its findings then we can take it
from there,” Lt Col Quarshie said.

The Chase

Those who managed to run out of the building, Nana
Yaw said, “were chased by men on motorbike
but I and others managed to escape.”

Those who suffered knife cuts and other injuries
were taken to the Akawe hospital for treatment.

Background

The raid on the NPP headquarters last Monday made
the headlines, leaving the country grappling with
the question about how military uniforms came to
be donned by unauthorised persons who undertook an
illegal operation.

The issue became even murkier after the Police
arrested the red-shirted young men, some of whom
like Nana Yaw were lured in the name of a party
taking place at the NPP headquarters.

It was intriguing also that those who mounted the
operation were selective in the offices they
targeted at the party headquarters.

As usual with such conundrums, fingers are being
pointed at possible leads.

As the wait for the outcome of the police
investigations continues, Ghanaians, especially
members of the NPP, would continue to make
conjectures.

Attack Intruders

Meanwhile, a founding member of the NPP, Dr Kwame
Amoako Tuffuor, has urged security personnel at
the party’s headquarters to deal ruthlessly
with anyone who attempts to enter the offices with
the intention of stealing or destroying party
property.

He said the recent raid at the party’s
headquarters shows that the NPP in particular and
Ghanaians in general were not safe; and that the
NPP would not allow a repeat of the Monday dawn
incident.

“Why should a party’s office be
ransacked without doing nothing about it (sic)?
Those people who stormed the party office have no
business there and so I urge all the security to
immediately kill anybody they find as intruders
whose mission is to steal and destroy properties.
They are no different from armed robbers and so
they need to be killed,” he declared.

Mistaken Reference

Meanwhile, on our front page yesterday, we wrongly
captioned a picture regarding the raid on the NPP
headquarters as ‘leader of the gang’
which descended upon the party offices on Monday
night. The man in handcuffs was rather one of the
security men guarding the party office at the time
of the raid and who is currently being held in
police custody.

DAILY GUIDE learnt that he is being prepared for
court for an unknown crime, especially since he
was one of those that alerted the Nima Police
about the attack.

Strangely, some of the people who were arrested by
the police for invading the party offices had been
let off the hook for no apparent reason.

Source - Daily Guide

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