Afoko fears for his life

Suspended National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party, Mr Paul Afoko, believes some functionaries of his party are after his life for daring to challenge his removal from office in court.

A source close to Mr Afoko (name withheld) disclosed to The aL-hAJJ that the embattled National Chairman is not oblivious of plots by hawks in the party to attack.

According to the source, even before the Human Rights court hearing Mr Afoko’s case against the NPP comes out with its verdict, “some wicked minds” in the party are planning to harm.

Meanwhile, credible intelligence picked up by The aL-hAJJ indicates that the NPP is now feeling the pinch of Mr Afoko’s case and, in their failed attempt to make peace with him, they are plotting to attack either him before or after the court’s verdict.

This scheme, this paper gathered, was first hatched ahead of Mr Afoko’s appearance before the party’s disciplinary committee but this failed as the suspended Chairman got wind of the plot and failed to honor the committee’s invitation.

In connivance with the NPP’s so-called internal security, some hawks of the party had planned bringing hired hoodlums from Tema, Ashaiman and Agbogbloshie to attack Paul Afoko if he had turned up at the Disciplinary Committee meeting. Even though those behind this plot were said to have back down on this wicked scheme after Mr Afoko’s suspension, they have revived the dastardly act ahead of an August 15 date scheduled for the court’s ruling on the case.

But those behind the plot have been unsuccessful with the plot and have been complaining the state has provided Mr Afoko with “heavy” security “which is making it difficult for them to do whatever they want to do to Mr Afoko,” a party insider noted.

“They would have attacked Afoko long ago but they have been unsuccessful. That is why they are unhappy with the State providing Afoko with security. They want to harm…Afoko’s life, as we speak is in danger,” a senior member of the party disclosed to The aL-hAJJ.

The NPP, this paper gathered, hopes Mr Afoko go around without protection “so that their mercenaries and invincible thugs can pour acid on him as they did to Adams or break limbs as they did to Atuluk,” a party source noted.

As part of plans to scuttle the state’s security protection of Afoko, the party hired cameramen to take a photograph of Mr Afoko in the company of some security personnel at the last adjourned sitting of the court and got some of its tabloids to publish it.

This is to create the impression that the Mahama government is supporting Mr Afoko’s court action against the party and “when this happens the state would be forced to withdraw the security men assign to protect Mr Afoko so that they can have the opportunity to harm him.”

The suspended National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party is challenging the legitimacy of Madam Gifty Kusi and Alhaji Short as members of the Disciplinary Committee that voted to suspend him on grounds that he acted in ways considered inimical to the political fortunes of the NPP.

He is asking the court to nullify the suspension, arguing that his removal was unconstitutional and lacks basis.

He is also praying the court to invoke the interpretation of the party’s constitution in bringing an objective conclusion to the matter. An Accra Human Rights Court presided over by Justice Anthony Yeboah has fixed August 15, 2016, to deliver judgment in the case. The court set the date after parties both parties filed their final addresses.