Blows at NPP Meeting

A timely intervention by good Samaritans saved the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Constituency Chairman for Bantama, Mr Kwabena Kokofu, from being lynched by thugs, allegedly led by the constituency Secretary, Mr Kwabena Osei, during an executive meeting at Bohyen, a suburb of Kumasi, on Tuesday.

Mr Kokofu was reportedly whisked away to safety by some good Samaritans in the ensuring attack, which occurred around 4pm, while other polling station executives sustained various degree of injuries, when the thugs stormed the meeting place with cutlasses and clubs.

The constituency Secretary, Mr Kwabena Osei and his cohort, currently assisting the police in their investigations, are alleged to belong to a faction in the constituency, which initially opposed the party’s constitutional amendments which allowed for the extension of the electoral college, and were said to be displeased with the constituency chairman, for organising the said meeting with the polling station executives.

The suspects allegedly stormed the venue of the meeting in a Mitsubishi pick-up truck with registration number AS7842-09. Upon seeing the armed macho men, the polling station executives ran helter skelter for safety for safety, and the constituency chairman, who was the main target for the orchestrated attack, was given a hot chase by the charged macho men, but was fortunate to have been rescued by some youth in the community.

Sensing danger, some by-standers quickly sent a distress call to the Buffalo Unit of the police, who rushed to the scene and effected the arrest of seven out of the eight macho men, including the constituency Secretary, while the other accomplices managed to run away. The names of the suspects were given only as Attah, Chief, Osei, Killer, Trouble and Osei Phobia.

Mr Kokofu, who later corroborated the report in an interview with the Chronicle at the Regional Police Headquarters, said the scheme by the constituency Secretary to attack him became apparent last Sunday, when he called a meeting of polling station executives at the Adoato Electoral Area to brief them on certain directives that he had received from the National hierarchy of the party, concerning the impending polling station elections.

He said at the meeting, the constituency Secretary organised some unidentified machomen, numbering about 17, to cause an upheaval, forcing them to cancel the meeting abruptly. He said, even though there were rumours that some people were planning to attack him, he least expected the constituency Secretary, whom he had worked with for the past four years, to be the brain behind the plot.

Determined to pass on the information to the polling station executives, Mr Kokofu said he decided to organise another meeting at Bohyen, and extended invitation to all the constituency executives to attend.

Mr Kokofu said it was in the course of the meeting that the constituency secretary stormed the premise with the macho men. It was during that moment that I realised that my adversaries were indeed determined to kill me, but I thank God that I have been saved, he noted. He expressed regret at the incident and said he could not ascertain the reason behind the action.