Failed coup in NPP; Ashanti cabal cuts Akufo-Addo to size

The sense of dominion over the New Patriotic Party (NPP) perceived by its flagbearer, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has finally given way to the reality of how much power he truly wields in that party.

Using the death of the late Upper East Regional Chairman of the NPP, Adams Mahama, as a catalyst to further push his agenda to get his party’s national chairman, Mr Paul Afoko and general secretary, Mr Kwabena Agyapong out of the way so as to control party resources, the NPP flagbearer had made a subtle move to oust them in a coup that has backfired woefully.

Nana Akufo-Addo, who is head of the ‘Akyem Mafia’ faction within the NPP, met his waterloo in a fierce resistance from the Kufuor faction, otherwise known as the ‘Ashanti cabal,’ as he attempted to get rid of the two ‘Kufuor men,’ This left the Akyem strongman with the only choice of retreat to save his own head.

At a hurriedly addressed press conference on Friday at the NPP headquarters, Nana Akufo-Addo ‘called’ for a ceasefire and asked his Invisible Forces to allow Mr Agyapong and Afoko, the two topmost party officials who had been held at bay for over one week, access to their offices.

“Whilst we continue with the period of mourning for Chairman Adams and until the party’s governing bodies meet, I ask that we normalize things within our party. This means, for instance, that the officers of the party, the National Chairman and the General Secretary in particular, must have access to their offices at party headquarters and not be hindered in any way from being able to conduct their duties. The NPP way of doing things is to be guided by law and order and I ask that normalcy return to our headquarters and party offices. I ask that we extend mutual respect to each other and we listen to each other,” the NPP flagbearer said.

It is believed that the NPP leader found his voice after a whole week’s turmoil in his party, only because his position as flagbearer was challenged in a most embarrassing way with demands on him to resign as flagbearer and he felt threatened by the development.

It would be recalled that in The Catalyst’s Monday 25th May 2015 edition, the paper published a call by a group within the NPP calling itself ‘Save the NPP Now’ for the NPP flagbearer’s resignation. This came closely on the heels of calls by many Akufo-Addo loyalists for the resignation of Paul Afoko and Kwabena Agyapong, following meetings held across the country presided over by the regional chairmen, to discuss the impeachments of the two.

Subsequently, ‘Save the NPP Now’ had lined up various activities aimed at putting pressure on the NPP flagbearer to resign.

Added to the call for Nana Akufo-Addo’s resignation was the emergence of other armed group’s within the NPP such as Bolgatanga Bulldogs and Kandaha Boys who declared allegiance for Mr Paul Afoko and Kwabena Agyapong and were readying themselves for a showdown with Akufo-Addo’s Invisible Forces that had held sway at the party’s headquarters for over a week.

Perhaps the most striking event that sent the NPP flagbearer running for cover was a breakthrough chalked by Mr Afoko and Kwabena Agyapong in the Ashanti region after a six-hour meeting with consistency executives, who defied the regional chairman to meet the two under fire party executive and declared support for them at the end of the day.

Reading through the possible implications for him in all this, Nana Akufo-Addo quickly decided to play safe by calling a truce.

The apparent landmark victory has since thrown the Kufuor faction into a jubilant mood, whilst the Akufo-Addo loyalists continue to fret over their loss.

When Paul Afoko and Kwabena Agyapong were totally denied access to their offices at the party’s headquarters in Accra using the heavily built men, the Invisible Forces, whiles most of the party’s regional chairmen spearheaded agitations for their impeachment, the beleaguered duo made it clear they were going nowhere but staying to serve their terms to the end.

Coming from the Kufuor camp, whose top guns, former Chief of Staff under the Kufuor-led NPP government, Mr Kwadwo Mpiani, and “his boss” were accused by NPP Member of Assin South, Kennedy Agyepong, as the masterminds of Mr Adams Mahama’s murder, and who felt they were under yet another orchestrated attack from Akufo-Addo and his henchmen to wither away their relevance in the party going forward, the faction put its acts together and managed to foil the coup.

Paul Afoko, who was beating mercilessly by Akufo-Addo loyalists at the NPP congress in 2007 at the Great Hall of the University of Ghana, Legon over an allegation of him trying to influence delegates with cash for Mr Alan Kyeremanten and Kwabena Agyapong who defected from the Akufo-Addo camp, became chairman and general secretary respectively against the wishes of the NPP flagbearer and his loyalists. They have thus never known peace upon assumption of office.

The current development in the NPP has been considered by many a political watcher as a major setback to Nana Akufo-Addo who was hitherto considered untouchable. But that sense of total control over the party perceived by the third-time flagbearer appears to have been shattered.