Nii Lante Vanderpuye beats up NPP parliamentary candidate

The Parliamentary candidate of the New Patriotic Party for the Odododiodioo constituency, Nii Lante Bannerman has accused incumbent Nii Lantey Vanderpuye of punching him twice at Jamestown.

Speaking on Accra based Citi Fm, the NPP Parliamentary candidate said he launched his campaign yesterday in the constituency while the NDC also had a rally at Okaishie after which they had a procession when a group of people started hurling stones and bottles at them.

According to the NPP parliamentary aspirant,he met Nii Lantey Vanderpuye this morning at Jamestown where he was assaulted.

“Nii Lante Vanderpuye punched me twice in the full glare of everyone at James Town
When Vanderpuye attacked me he had about 20 thugs with him,” he added.

Asked why he did not report the matter to the Police, he replied that he has lodged more than 20 complaints at the Police station but nothing has been done about the it.

The Odododiodioo constituency a predominantly NDC seat is a volatile area where the NPP is trying to snatch away from the grasp of the NDC.

It is one of the country’s political thermometers because of its cosmopolitan nature, the Odododiodoo Constituency, from results of parliamentary elections since 1992, has an interesting record. With the exception of 2004, any party that won the Odododiodoo seat sent his presidential candidate to the Castle or Flagstaff House.

Since 1996, the elections in the constituency have been a two-horse race between the ruling NDC and NPP. This year’s does not appear to be different, as Nii Lante Vanderpuye, the incumbent MP and Nii Lantey Bannerman, the NPP candidate, are the clear favourites.

Since the inception of the Fourth Republic, all other parties that took part in elections in this constituency — the Convention People’s Party (CPP), People’s National Convention (PNC), Progressive People’s Party (PPP), National Reform Party (NRP), Democratic Freedom Party (DFP) and the National Convention Party (NCP) — just added to the numbers. They made little impact.

If Odododiodoo is a mouthful, so are the local politics.With bubbling commercial centres, including 31st December, Makola No. 2, Kantamanto and Agblogloshie markets, deep in its belly, the coastal constituency has a history of heavy turnout during elections.