The Greater Accra Regional branch of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) is demanding the immediate release of its Constituency Chairman and Organizer in the Ledzokuku constituency.
According to the party, the two; Joseph Mensah and James Narh were detained at the Accra Regional Police Command after some military personnel allegedly ransacked the office of their parliamentary candidate, Benjamin Ayiku Narh.
The party alleged that some armed military officers invaded the office of their parliamentary candidate at Teshie over suspicion that he was registering voters at the said office.
Speaking at a news conference today, Monday, July 20, 2020, the Deputy Greater Accra Regional Youth Organizer of the NDC, Amos Blessing Amorse denied such allegations.
“The latest of such vicious display of State-sponsored attack on innocent citizens which has necessitated this press briefing, ladies and gentlemen, was an unwarranted, needless, jejune and superfluous invasion of a supermarket and filling station, Maxxon Supermarket and filling station, owned by our Parliamentary Candidate for Ledzokuku Constituency, Ben Ayiku Narh at Anumantu, Teshie Tsuibleoo on Sunday, July 19, 2020, at about 7:00 pm.”
“For the uninitiated, Maxxon Supermarket and filling station, like any other filing station, is a public place where people from all walks of life are at liberty to drive or walk in to buy items of their choice. It is however important to point out that, the same building houses the private office of our candidate and incoming MP for Ledzokuku, Ben Ayiku. Needless to say, it is an open secret that strategic political meetings of the PC are held there. It is therefore not out of place to spot known political heads of the NDC there on any day.”
Amorse at the press conference explained that when the voter registration exercise began, their parliamentary candidate agreed to use his office as a ‘collation centre’ where they will assemble, go over the number of voters registered in the constituency and key the inputs “into a desktop computer at the office.”
“On Sunday, July 19, the PC [parliamentary candidate] and Executives [of the NDC in the constituency] had arranged to meet some traditional leaders in his office in the evening. While the meeting was ongoing, our agents came to the office with print outs for day one of the third phase of the ongoing exercise. While at it, a four-member military patrol team from the Teshie Southern Command, armed to the teeth, led by one Captain Dominic N. Nakpaja together with other un-uniformed heavily built men stormed the office.”
The NDC’s Deputy Greater Accra Regional Youth Organizer noted that Captain Nakpaja and his men, together with the un-uniformed men, claimed they had picked intelligence that the NDC had set up a registration centre at Mr. Ayiku Narh’s office and was registering people at night.
“The officers, together with the NPP hoodlums, obviously acting on the instructions of the failed MP for Ledzokuku, Dr Bernard Okoe Boye, locked up our PC, traditional leaders and all those in the office and held them incommunicado. For a moment, the place was turned into a scene akin to invasion by armed robbers. The officers said they had instruction from the dreadful but unknown inaudible ‘orders from above’ to search the office and seize the supposed registration machines.”
Mr. Amorse said despite the resistance, the military personnel led by Captain Nakpaja succeeded in confiscating the desktop computer and EC’s print outs from the various registration centres for the first day of the third phase.
He said the NDC Constituency Chairman and Organizer and some others followed up the issue at the Accra Central Police command where Captain Nakpaja claimed he had lodged an official complaint.
“Upon arrival at the Station, the police CID in charge said he had been instructed by the powers that be to detain the Constituency Chairman and Organizer for reasons or crime we are yet to be told,” he said.
Mr. Amorse said their parliamentary candidate and constituency had done no wrong to warrant such action from the security personnel.
He also condemned the alleged invasion and demanded the release of the NDC executives.
“We demand that our Constituency Chairman, Organizer and any other person being detained in respect of this false and unintelligent allegation be released immediately. We do not expect anybody to ask us what we will do when they are not released. Whoever wants to know what we will do in the unlikely event they are not released should ready him or herself to witness what will happen thereof,” the Deputy Greater Accra Regional Youth Organizer of the NDC, Amos Blessing Amorse said.
