Police Avert Possible Clash At Joy FM

The timely arrival of hordes of personnel from the Ghana Police Service with their crowd control equipment in tow, averted what could have easily left a sour taste in the mouths of well-meaning and peaceful Ghanaians, when hundreds of irate supporters of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) unhappy with how a member of the party’s communications team was being ‘heckled’ on-air, laid siege at the premises of an Accra-based commercial radio station.

The angry supporters swarmed Asempa FM, now located on the premises of JoyFM, because they felt the host of Ekosii sen, a political discussion programme aired on the station, Bobie Ansah, was jaundiced towards them and was trying to emasculate Hopeson Adoye who speaks for the NPP.

Peacefmonline.com is reliably informed that panelists were discussing fallouts from the NPP’s Greater Accra Rally and the NPP flagbearer, Nana Akufo-Addo’s remark that he had no problem at all with pitting his character against that of President Mills.

In a rather self-assured manner, the NPP flagbearer, addressing a teeming crowd of party supporters and sympathizers at a rally held on Saturday at Mantse Agbonaa in James Town said, he was ready to engage President Mills in a “contest of character” if that was what the NDC craved for.

Narrating what led to the whole incident, Peter Boamah Otukonor, a member of the NDC’s Communication Team, in an interview during Peace FM News@6pm, said in his submission, he placed the character of the NPP Presidential candidate under the microscope urging him (Nana Addo) to extricate himself from allegations of drug use and also his alleged association with people who are on record to have been convicted of drug-trafficking.

His assertion comes after the Federal Police Department of Brazil reported that a Ghanaian drug convict, Raymond Kwame Amankwah, who is serving a 14-year prison term in Brazil, was at the time of his arrest at the Pinto Martins Airport in Fortaleza on December 1, 2007, holding a diplomatic passport issued by the Republic of Ghana.

According to him, he was emphatic that the diplomatic passport Raymond Amankwah held, was issued at the time Nana Akufo-Addo was the Foreign Affairs Minister, as such the NPP leader cannot absolve himself from blame. He stressed that Ghana cannot afford to have a leader who has allegations of being a drug addict hanging around his neck like an albatross since the lives of the many Ghanaian youth cannot be safe under his watch if he ever became president.

He recounted that he also questioned why Nana Addo as Attorney General failed to prosecute the three women said to be NPP members who were arrested in 2002 at the Kotoka International Airport for possessing narcotic substances.

Still on the character of the NPP Flagbearer, Otukonor said of a man desiring to be president, it was indiscrete and morally unacceptable for a leader of the largest opposition party to fondle a married woman à la GBC Make-up artist and Daily Post exposé.

He further stated that for someone whom the International Community had described as “having morality problems”, (as per the wikileaks reports), it is worrisome that the NPP chose to elect someone who constantly uses sexual imagery publicly, referring to the infamous ‘bottoms’ comment the NPP presidential candidate made in his tribute to the late Madam Theresa Tagoe.

He said he was therefore surprised that his submission could get the NPP panelist so worked up.

Peacefmonline.com was fortunate enough to get through to the man at the centre of the whole brouhaha, Hopeson Adoye for his version of events. Hopeson revealed that he expressed happiness that the contest was now about the character of the personalities seeking to lead the nation.

According to him, in his submission, he stressed that if the NDC was really concerned about leaders who are into hard drugs and how that might negatively affect the youth, they should have expressed worry when a former leader, alleged to be high on drugs, climbed on top of a tree and refused to come despite several entreaties.

Swatting away accusations that the NPP flagbearer was into drugs, Hopeson Adoye said he pointed out that people who abused illegal substances show visible signs and symptoms of being under the influence of hard drugs and alluded to President Mills’ blackened hands saying though he (Mills) openly told Ghanaians that it was a reaction to certain medication he was using, he never disclose what the medication was.

Like a train careering down a steep slope, the NPP activist said he also claimed that it is an undeniable fact that there are some persons at the seat of government, the Osu, Castle, who have to be induced by drugs before they can get up on their feet and go about their normal duties.

At this, he said, the host of the show drew his attention to the fact that it was Nana Addo who was the subject of discussion and questioned why the focus on President Mills, to which Hopeson Adoye retorted that the 'question was out of order'.

According to him, Bobie Ansah shot back saying, “if you cannot do sensible debate then walk out,” but he (Adoye) stood his grounds and refused to leave the studios. As tempers flared, the host promptly cut off his (Adoye’s) microphone, abruptly halted the show to take a commercial break and allegedly requested that the security personnel kick out the NPP activist.

As the situation was taking a turn for the worse, hordes of NPP supporters, as if on cue, circled the premises of the radio station ostensibly to cause havoc but were prevented from entering into the studio by workers of the station and a special squad from Westec Security.

Meanwhile, supporters of the ruling NDC also besieged the station in their numbers perhaps to offer some form of protection to their members in the studio setting the stage for what could easily have been a free-for-all fight.

But the timely arrival of personnel from the Ghana police service with their crowd control equipment in tow, calmed matters.