Machomen chase Gloria Akuffo

The life of Gloria Akuffo, one of the lead lawyers for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the ongoing hearing of election petition, seems to be in danger.

Two ‘machomen’ were reported to have stormed the offices of Akufo-Addo, Prempeh & co legal firm on motorbikes demanding Gloria Akuffo’s residential address without reason.

This was said to have happened on Monday, May 13, 2013.

The two were said to have been referred to Alex Quainoo, one of the lawyers at the firm and also a member of the legal team of the petitioners.

After listening to the requests of the two men, Mr Quainoo turned them away.

Two days afterwards, the office of Gloria Akuffo, which is located in the Pyramid House along the Ring Road, was burgled.

This occurred in the morning of Wednesday, May 15, 2013 resulting in the theft of two computers as well as hard drive and memory of a server in the office. The CCTV was disenabled further deepening suspicions about the break-in.

The office was first raided on Sunday, December 16, 2012, barely a week after the general elections at a time when the NPP had indicated its preparedness to challenge the results of the 2012 presidential election in court.

The NPP, as a party, deemed it wise to seek police protection for Gloria Akuffo and the lead lawyer, Philip Addison.

Leadership of the party sent an official application to the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Alhassan requesting for police protection for especially the two lead lawyers.

Captain Koda (Rtd), Head of Security of the outfit of the 2012 presidential candidate of the NPP, Nana Akufo-Addo, was said to have gone to the office of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) sometime this week to inform him of these events and asked for official police protection for Gloria Akuffo and other members of the legal team.

The IGP was said to have subsequently asked Captain Kodah to come with a formal written application, copied to the Director of Operations of the Ghana Police Service, DCOP John Kudalor, to enable the Police Service to formally act on the request.

The official request, in the form of a letter, was therefore presented to the IGP.