Akwasi Addai Odike
THE ASHANTI Regional office of the United Progressive Party (UPP) at Patasi in Kumasi was yesterday attacked by suspected gunmen.
The gunmen, who were said to be after the founder of the party, Akwasi Addai Odike, stormed the UPP office Monday evening, according to eye witnesses.
The gang of two, who were allegedly holding guns, reportedly started asking about the whereabouts of Odike, but a few minutes later, they started shooting sporadically into the UPP office.
All the glass doors to the office, located just behind the Ashanti Regional Police Training School, were destroyed in minutes.
The attackers, who were certainly bent on causing extensive damage, also smashed the windscreen of a car that was parked in front of the UPP office before fleeing the scene in a waiting car.
People who witnessed the attack said someone was in the office at the time of the shooting. Even though he was hit by a stray bullet, he survived the attack.
No arrest has been made so far by the police, who are on a manhunt for the perpetrators of the unprovoked attack.
The attack comes three days after chiefs in Asanteman banished Odike, whom they accused of disrespecting Otumfuo, from the Manhyia Palace.
Meanwhile, DAILY GUIDE has learnt that Akwasi Addai Odike will render unqualified apologies to the chiefs in Asanteman over his foul utterances.
The Asanteman chiefs, led by the Bantamahene, Baffuor Owusu Amankwatia, accused Odike of uttering some unprintable words against them.
“I respect our chiefs and I want to become the president of the country and I will need their support. If apologize to the chiefs it will not take anything away from me.
“At the appropriate time you will hear from me,” the UPP leader, said this an interview on Akoma FM in Kumasi.
According to Odike, some respectable and influential people in the country have called him over the issue.
“I have to consult more before I finally come out,” the politician cum businessman said, stressing that the issue involves chiefs so he has to be tactical with his actions.
Odike explained that the issues he talked about, especially the destruction of river bodies by illegal mining are real and factual “but maybe the tone of my language was bad.”
FROM I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi