A member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Sedodi Theophilus, has claimed he is not the leader of the party’s vigilante group called The Hawks.
The Hawks was introduced in Kumasi in April 2018 during the NDC’s so-called ‘Unity Walk’ .
Mr. Sedodi, who claimed to be a spare parts dealer at Komkompe in Accra, has become the face behind the vigilante group since its formation.
He is always close to former President John Mahama during party programmes.
Appearing before the Emile Short Commission of Inquiry probing the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election shooting incident, the heavily-built man claimed “I am not a member of the Hawks, let alone its leader.”
He told the commission that he was given the Hawks’ T-shirt in Kumasi during the ‘Unity Walk’ to help direct traffic.
Sedodi narrated that he had forgotten the name of the persons who gave him the T-shirt to wear but did not know them personally.
A member of the commission, Prof. Henrietta Mensah-Bonsu, queried him on the whereabouts of the police on the day he was directing traffic in Kumasi.
He said the police were ahead with the former president and ensured things were orderly behind them.
When the commissioner asked him whether he was trying to suggest that the police were being ‘irresponsible’ in their duties, the macho man replied that they (the bodyguards) were only seeking to win the favour of the NDC’s top executives, who took part in the ‘Unity Walk’.
He stated that other members of the NDC were also given the Hawks’ T-shirts to direct traffic but could not tell the actual number of people involved.
“I am not a member of the Hawks. When we were about to close the walk, I moved close to the former president (John Mahama) so that somebody could take a picture of me.”
He claimed because of his stature, people use his pictures to suggest that he is a member of the group.
“Even a media house used my picture to portray me as a member of The Hawks,” he claimed.
When the commission’s counsel Eric Osei-Mensah asked him whether he had made any efforts to report individuals who use his pictures, he said he did not know where to lodge his complaint.
By-election Chaos
He admitted that he was in Ayawaso West Wuogon when the chaos ensued at the residence of the NDC candidate during the by-election.
He claimed he is an executive member of the Ablekuma branch of the NDC and that was why he travelled to the Ayawaso West Wuogon Constituency to help the party as an executive.
He added that he arrived in the constituency between 8:00am and 10:00am and went to the residence of Delali Kwasi Brempong, NDC’s parliamentary candidate, where he met people sharing rice porridge.
He said that after a while, the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) Unit of National Security arrived at the scene and ordered him to raise his hands, which he did.
While he was being searched, he queried the SWAT officer and the officer told him that they had information that the police were there to mount a search at the candidate’s house.
“The police tried to enter the candidate’s house but I told them that there was nobody in the house so they should not enter; afterwards the SWAT officer found nothing and told his men to leave.”
He said he heard gunshots and claimed he saw Sam George, NDC Member of Parliament for Ningo-Prampram, in the midst of the confusion.
“I asked him where he was going and the MP said he was going for a car key.
“In the melee, a guy among the National Security operatives identified me and said I was living at Komkompe and they ordered me to get into their car and they hit him with a taser,” he narrated.
According to him, he bled from the back of his head, adding that when he got into the car, the back of the taser was used on him twice.
By Melvin Tarlue