“I am the chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and I still want to be able to go forward with my party to win the next general elections,” a defiant Paul Afoko told journalists on Wednesday at a press conference when he broke his silence on his suspension for the first time.

He said the petitions that led to his suspension were “baseless,” but declined to explain further, saying: “Please for those who know, they will understand why I will not go into the details because I need to give my party a fighting chance as the chairman of the party.”

Mr Afoko, however, warned that: “…If there is persistence, then the baseless petitions will be answered, and we will all see how baseless they are.”

According to him, “the owners of the party are not the 70 people” who upheld his suspension at the national council meeting, which he described as illegal and unconstitutional.

“All those who voted at the council meeting voted against my candidature,” Mr Afoko told the journalists saying the real owners of the party are the grassroots people.

He said apart from the unconstitutionality of his suspension, the processes used by the national executive committee and the national council to uphold his suspension as recommended by the disciplinary committee breached the rules of natural justice.

Mr Afoko, the party's first-ever chairman of northern extraction, accused the leadership of the party of victimising 21 regional officers who dared to question the propriety of his suspension.

Such actions, he said, are “arbitrary and unlawful” and constitute “a substantial threat to our vision of development in freedom”.

“It constitutes a clear and present danger to our party’s values…it is illogical to suspend officers who are supposed to work to win elections…” Mr Afoko added, urging that: “lovers of democracy must rise up to save our party.”

According to him, the illegal and unconstitutional actions of the NPP leadership is creating the perception that “a culture of silence and fear is permeating our body politick.”