Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo
The National Chairman of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, has turned himself into a preacher of the gospel, using the pulpit to console himself with his current predicament.
He is currently in hot waters after the police arrested and questioned him for any role he might have played in the spate of kidnappings and arson that have rocked the country lately.
Original Trial
Mr. Ofosu-Ampofo alongside the party’s Deputy Communications Officer, Anthony Kwaku Boahen, are already facing three charges at an Accra High Court over a leaked audio allegedly detailing strategies the NDC allegedly intends to use for 2020 elections – one being the kidnappings of family members of political opponents.
At the party’s 27th anniversary thanksgiving service held at the Royal House International in Accra on Sunday, the NDC Chairman who is an elder of the Pentecost Church, shouted, “My hands are clean and my heart is clean!” although it was unclear why he was making the declaration.
Danger Ahead
He said “for the past three months, pastors would call me and say pray because we had seen danger ahead of you.”
He also said “the battle is not for me; the battle is the Lord’s and the Lord will win it for me.” His statement appeared to be in reference to the charges he is currently facing in the court.
“Recently, I prayed and cried and I asked ‘God if you knew this was going to be my lot why did you allow me to win this election?’ But the Lord asked me to go back and read Exodus, and read what Moses went through. And he told me that the Egyptians that you see today, tomorrow you will see them no more. Have the belief and confidence that the Almighty God that we serve will redeem me and His name will be glorified,” he preached.
2020 Projections
He added, “As we journey into 2020, we have no strength to fight; we have no weapon to fight with but we believe that the Captain of Israel, our Lord Jesus Christ, will be the leader of our army and victory will surely be ours.”
Second Arrest
Mr. Ofosu-Ampofo had once again been arrested and released last week over his alleged involvement in the recent kidnappings after failing to honour an invitation from the Director-General of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID).
According to the police, the invitation was extended to him to assist in the investigations of the spate of kidnappings and arson in the country but his party prevented him from honouring the invitation, compelling the police to go to court to secure a warrant for his arrest.
Chilling Comment
Mr. Ofosu-Ampofo is purportedly captured on the audio recording, among other things, calling for Arab Spring kind of revolution in Ghana.
He had said on the tape that the NDC was going to clash with the police deliberately so that there would be chaos in the country and when that happens the international community could blame the Akufo-Addo government for the violence.
On the kidnappings bit, the NDC Chairman is captured on the tape as saying “… Nobody has slept in his house. They even went to attack traders [and] some Imams had to come and plead for them. People will also start capturing your mothers and fathers and keeping them hostage until you show yourself up. So we need to go back quickly to the drawing board and strategize.”
On the said tape, he appeared to put some public officers in danger when he endorsed abuse and violence against them.
He is heard declaring ‘war’ against the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC), Jean Mensa, when he said, “As for the EC chair, we must wage a relentless war on this EC Chair. Me, she doesn’t want to see my face.”
In urging NDC supporters to abuse the Chairman of the National Peace Council Rev. Prof Emmanuel Asante, former President Bishop of Methodist Church of Ghana, he said “for the first time, I’ll endorse insulting the National Peace Council Chair.”
Doctored Tape
The NDC has already come out to claim that the audio recording had been ‘doctored’ to incriminate Mr. Ofosu-Ampofo but a leading party member, Emmanuel Victor Smith, does not agree with them.
“The tape was on Ghanaweb and everywhere. I have just listened to it and I think it was his voice,” the former High Commissioner to the United Kingdom said, adding “whatever I heard was his voice, unless somebody can convince me that they can doctor things to make it sound like my voice; and that much I don’t know whether someone has done that before.”
He said on Class FM that he had known the NDC Chairman ‘long enough’ to know it was his voice.
By Melvin Tarlue& Jamila Akweley Okertchiri