NDC Boys Attack Nana’s House

November 14, 2016

Attack on Nana Akufo-Addo’s residence at Nima (See photos below)

Hundreds of National Democratic Congress (NDC) T-shirt clad youth yesterday morning allegedly attacked the Nima residence of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) flag bearer, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo, hurling bottles of alcoholic beverages and stones into the house.

Their bid to invade the house was said to have been aborted by two private security men at the gate who reportedly fired warning shots into the air. Nana Addo was in the Brong-Ahafo Region campaigning towards the December 7 polls at the time of the incident.

Nana’s Family

As the engagement lasted, Nana’s wife – Rebecca Akufo-Addo – his two daughters and a granddaughter were reportedly entrapped in the house.

Had they succeeded in achieving their aim of setting their feet on the compound, the situation could have been bloody.

It took a while before the Nima police – who are close to the residence – turned up to control the situation, especially when droves of NPP supporters headed for the location to call the bluff of the NDC supporters who were said to have been drawn from various parts of Accra, such as Odododiodoo, Mamobi North and Ashaiman, for the regional keep fit exercise.

When DAILY GUIDE visited the house, NPP supporters had taken over the place, their angst too visible. The police later dispatched anti-riot tank to the house to beef up security.

Party Bigwigs

Leading personalities of the party – Dr. Kwame Addo-Kufuor, Akosua Frema Osei Opare, Stanley Nii Adjiri-Blankson, acting General Secretary John Boadu, Henry Quartey (MP for Ayawaso Central) and Lawyer Philip Addison – were holed in the residence hosting visitors who trooped in to see for themselves what had really transpired.

Telltale signs of what had happened were spotted on the compound with broken bottles of Orijin Bitters and others strewn on the ground waiting for crime scene cops to arrive.

Several hours after the incident, the road from the Al Waleed Roundabout near the Goil Filling Station in Nima towards the Nima Police Station, was virtually turned into a security zone as vehicles approaching from Nima were diverted by a policeman detailed for the assignment.

Only vehicles coming from the Nima Traffic Light intersection near the Police Station, were allowed to proceed to Nima.

The incident occurred against the backdrop of reports that President John Mahama was due to visit Nima. The NDC supporters engaged in the usual weekly keep-fit exercise, made up as stated earlier, from different constituencies, were frenzied by perhaps the scheduled visit which did not take place anyway.

For the past few weeks, the weekly keep-fit exercise has been turned into a muster parade of sorts by the two main parties until today when matters took a violent turn.

Unusual Keep-Fit

Yesterday’s walk was unlike previous ones because those engaged in it returned to where they had passed earlier, a deviation from the norm. Some of the freshly pasted pictures of the flag bearer and his running mate were vandalized during the return of the NDC youth, with their leaders reportedly looking on when the vandalisation was going on.

A team of superior police officers led by the Greater Accra Regional Police Commander, ACP Timothy Yoosa Bonga and crime scene cops visited the scene.

NPP’s Account

The Acting General Secretary, John Boadu, addressed a press conference yesterday during which he narrated the party’s version about what happened.

The attack, according to him, is the latest provocation by the NDC and it took place at a time when the flag bearer was in the Brong-Ahafo Region campaigning.

“Early this morning (yesterday) around 7am, a large crowd of NDC supporters were ostensibly on a health walk, which we are told the President was scheduled to attend. They were heard and seen coming down the Al-Waleed Bin-Talal Highway, towards the traffic light at the bottom of the Nima Police Station and Akufo-Addo’s residence,” he averred.

The NDC crowd, Mr Boadu said, started hurling insults at Nana but at about 7.30 am, “Mrs. Rebecca Akufo-Addo’s vehicle got to the traffic light, just 40 yards from the house, when a gunshot was heard from the crowd. This time, the security men guarding the house realised the house was under attack.”

First Shot

Before the shot was allegedly fired from the NDC crowd of supporters, one of the guards approached them and demanded of them to leave, whereupon one of the NDC thugs pulled a knife on him, he said.

The driver, he said, managed to manoeuvre away, thinking it was nothing serious at the time.
The police, according to eyewitnesses, he said, “took no meaningful steps to protect the house of the flag bearer or to stop the violent supporters of the NDC from attacking the place. When they could not enter the house, the thugs decided to throw stones, blocks, bottles and whatever they could lay their hands on, into the compound of the house.”

Warning Shots

It was the warning shots from the security details in Nana’s house, he said, which saved the situation as it compelled the thugs to beat a retreat.

He said, however, that “It took about an hour for police reinforcement team to arrive. This is strange and very worrying, considering the incident which took place in Nima, at the heart of the capital, and a five-minute police drive from the Police Headquarters.”

The police, Mr Boadu said, must do more to protect all Ghanaians, explaining that “The flag bearer’s house has no police protection and the fact that he lives right next to the police station did not discourage the NDC from attacking the house.”

Intimidation

The police, he claimed, are not the problem, but “the violent and desperate NDC are our problem. We will do our best to keep our party supporters calm. We want to assure them that we will do our best to protect ourselves. Our commitment to a credible and peaceful election remains strong and will remain strong, no matter the provocation.”
“But, we want to send a strong warning to the president. We shall not be intimidated. We shall not be assaulted. We will use every constitutional force to protect ourselves and our properties. We believe we have a responsibility to protect our democracy and the only way to do so is not to allow the instruments of violence to have their way.”

Motive Of Attack

“The motive for the violent attack by the NDC on Nana Akufo-Addo’s family is not in doubt,” he said, adding that “The NDC was clearly there for one reason and one reason only: to assault the household and create an enhanced atmosphere of fear within Ghana, 24 days to the election. This action was premeditated and unquestionably violent.”

“According to an eyewitness,” he went on, “Some of the stones thrown were taken from the back of a vehicle.”
The acting NPP General Secretary noted that amassing NDC supporters outside the NPP flag bearer’s house and the attempt to enter the house were all part of a broad range of calculated, violent, and provocative acts designed to bait the NPP into responding in a similar manner. “The NPP is not violent; will not be violent and will resist violence. We shall resist it with all our might and legitimately.”

Enhanced Security

The party called on the police to enhance the security “provided to our leaders, including their homes. It is not proper that the daughters of an opposition leader will be effectively kept hostage in their own home for over three hours on a Sunday morning.”

The NPP called on the National Peace Council, the Christian Council and all civil society organisations to let their voices be heard in the condemnation of this violent act.

No arrest had been made as at press time last night.

NDC Reacts

Meanwhile, the NDC Greater Accra Regional Chairman, Ade Coker, has said that the party has photographs of NPP supporters holding guns, and would furnish the police with the information.

“We are sending these pictures to the IGP and ask for the swift arrest of those in these pictures who were holding guns in the full glare of the police and in front of Akufo-Addo’s residence,” he told journalists.

He explained, “We the people of Greater Accra had a peaceful health walk, we got out of our houses around 5am and we never gave guns to any of our supporters.”

“So we feel that the statement that was issued by the NPP is full of blatant lies and they must be ashamed of themselves for wanting to plunge this country into chaos; and we the NDC will not allow that to happen.”