The National Organiser of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Henry Nana Boakye, has accused the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) of planning violent disruptions in a bid to derail the December 7 general elections.
Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, Nana B unveiled alleged schemes by the NDC, including training vigilante groups, deploying armed thugs, and orchestrating violence in key regions.
According to the NPP organizer, recent intelligence has uncovered a series of plans by the NDC to intimidate voters and destabilize the electoral process.
“The NDC is resorting to violent tactics because they see defeat staring them in the face. They know that Ghanaians are ready to reject John Mahama for a third time, and this desperation is driving them to consider undemocratic means,” he alleged.
He revealed that the NDC had launched its vigilante group, the “Azoka Boys,” in the Asawase Constituency of the Ashanti Region on November 4, 2024, and allegedly tasked with intimidating voters in the NPP’s strongholds.
The NPP also alleged that secret meetings were held to strategize these violent efforts. A November 11 meeting in Obuasi, led by NDC Mining Committee Chair Tony Aubynn, reportedly aimed to recruit small-scale miners into the NDC’s “Eagle Force” vigilante group.
Additionally, the NPP accused the NDC of planning to use ambulances to transport weapons and deploying motorbike-riding thugs to create chaos in NPP strongholds.
“These acts are not only dangerous but an affront to Ghana’s democracy,” the Organiser stressed. “We will not sit idly by and allow this to happen.”
Nana B dismissed claims by NDC Communications Officer Sammy Gyamfi that the ruling NPP was planning to rig the elections using military officers.
According to him, the baseless allegations against Brigadier General Opoku and the Ghana Armed Forces are reckless and unfounded and stated, “These attempts to tarnish the reputation of our military only expose the desperation of the NDC.”
The NPP reiterated its commitment to free, fair, and peaceful elections and called on the security agencies to investigate and thwart the alleged plans by the NDC.
The NPP urged Ghanaians to remain vigilant and reject any attempts to disrupt the electoral process.
“History shows that no party has ever succeeded in using violence to win an election in Ghana. We call on the NDC to abandon these plans and focus on competing fairly. Ghana’s democracy is stronger than their schemes,” the NPP said.
The party urged the Inspector General of Police to arrest and investigate all individuals involved in the alleged launch of vigilante groups and ensure the safety of voters across the country.
The party emphasized the stakes of the upcoming elections, urging citizens to prioritize the nation’s democratic legacy.
“Ghanaians deserve peaceful, credible elections. We must all stand firm to protect our democracy and show the world once again that Ghana is a beacon of peace and stability,” Nana B stressed.
Below is the full text of the NPP statement
PRESS STATEMENT BY THE NATIONAL ORGANISER OF THE NEW PATRIOTIC PARTY
EXPOSING THE NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC CONGRESS’S (NDC) PLANNED USE OF VIOLENCE TO DISRUPT THE DECEMBER 7 GENERAL ELECTIONS
Ladies and gentlemen of the Press
Thank you for joining us for today’s engagement. With [mention days left to Dec 7], the New Patriotic Party is happy to announce that from all indications up and down the country, we are winning the presidential election and with a clear majority in Parliament. We see this and the NDC people know it, too. All that is required is for the Ghanaian people to get out in large numbers to vote on December 7.
The reason is simple. The people have compared the NPP’s track record to that of the NDC. They have profiled our parliamentary candidates and those of the NDC. They have looked at Dr
Mahamudu Bawumia, his track record, his vision and his integrity. And they have compared that to John Mahama, his track record, his lack of vision and looked at the evidence of his lack of integrity. From the North to the East, West and South, the vision of our Presidential Candidate, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, of introducing bold business-friendly policies, including 100% tax amnesty for all businesses and individuals owning taxes, his promise of a flat tax rate and a flat duty rate for imports, his incentives for the tourism industry, for the Ghanaian gold mining industry, funding for SMEs, women-owned enterprises and FINTEC startups, his embrace of the global digital economy, are all exciting the business community and giving the youth real hopes in the mantra that BAWUMIAN MEANS BUSINESS AND BAWUMIA IS FOR JOBS.
Parents, mothers, especially, and the 5.7 million young Ghanaians who have so far benefited from Free SHS and Free TVET are genuinely worried about the fate of this destiny-changing policy in the unlikely event that the NDC wins. The people know that in the hands of Dr. Bawumia and the NPP, Free SHS is safe.
Families, farmers, traders, and professional workers like teachers in the 110 districts up and down the country and the six new regions, plus the Western Region, who are seeing hospital infrastructure coming up are rightly worried that Agenda 111 will be abandoned if John Mahama wins. And they know that with Dr Bawumia, who first brought the initiative to President Akufo-Addo for implementation, Agenda 111 will be completed and that the NHIS, which effectively collapsed under John Mahama for non-payment of service providers, is back and will continue to grow under the next NPP government.
Again, everywhere you go, the issue of roads is paramount and the people asking for roads know all too well that in these 8 years of NPP, we have built four times more roads than the last 8 years of NDC with John Mahama as Vice President and with him more as President. So, they know by maintaining NPP in office under our new leader and vibrant doer, Bawumia, the roads that they want fixed will be fixed.
Also, Ghanaians are looking for a leader who will be accountable to them in 2028. That cannot be John Mahama. They know that Mahama will use the four years, focusing on his end-of-service benefits, and his internal leadership succession battles and not focusing on what matters to the Ghanaian people. So, they do not want John Mahama. They remember him in 2016. They remember his corruption issues. They remember his issues with bribery and they remember his incompetence. Most of all, they remember he could not even keep the lights on for 12 hours in a day to support the economy.
They know what that means for business and for jobs. Ghanaians want certainty. They know the economy is fast recovering and they want a safe pair of hands that can steer it for the good and prosperity of all. They know our history that when it comes to policies that benefit the masses, the poor and the needy, it is NPP and not NDC.
John Mahama knows that the lies of the NDC against Bawumia and the NPP do not wash. They know defeat awaits the NDC. Across Ghana, the people are rising up to the scary prospect of a John Mahama return and are saying no to it! Admittedly, Greater Accra had been our biggest challenge, but we have seen a new wave of recognition of the dangers that Mahama poses to the economic recovery that we are seeing and the greater danger to the education and health of the Ghanaian people. They are seeing that, aside from the global cost of living crisis and the impact on urban livelihoods, the NPP has done more work in these 8 years than any other government in the 4th Republic. So, they are prepared to allow Dr. Bawumia to carry on and implement his own ideas for the good of Ghana.
It is this reality of John Mahama facing his third successive defeat that the NDC is looking at ways and means to distort the December 7 race. However, the Ghanaian people are not ready for violence. We shall not sacrifice our peace and stability to satisfy the wishes of a leader who had his chance and failed miserably with it. History does not favour John Mahama. And, the future will not favour Ghanaians under Mahama.
Ghana’s democratic journey has been a shining light on the African continent. As a beacon of democracy, our nation’s elections have consistently reflected the will of the people, ensuring peace, stability, and progress. However, as we approach the December 7 General Elections, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) is uncovering disturbing plans by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to adopt violent tactics in a desperate bid to intimidate voters and disrupt the electoral process.
This press conference seeks to expose these dangerous schemes, emphasize our commitment to a peaceful electoral process, and rally all well-meaning Ghanaians to stand firm against any attempts by the NDC to mar the beauty of the upcoming December 7 elections, which they see as slipping away from them.
Information available to the NPP reveals that for several months, the NDC has been training thugs in pockets of communities, including the Obuasi East Constituency under the guise of private security training. These individuals are being prepared to disrupt electoral processes, particularly in the Ashanti Region, which remains the NPP’s stronghold.
We are aware that as recently as November 11, 2024, the NDC committee on Mining, led by Tony Aubynn, former Chief Executive of the Minerals Commission, held a secret meeting with some pro-NDC small-scale miners at the conference hall of Mawuli Hotel in Bidiem in the Obuasi West Municipality. One of the aims of the meeting was to recruit some members of the pro-NDC small-scale miners to form part of the NDC’s Eagle Force vigilante group who will be deployed to some NPP polling stations to cause mayhem on election day. Let them be advised that this won’t happen!
The NPP is also aware of Mobile Money transactions directly linking leading NDC members to payments made to these trained thugs. These individuals are being deployed to strategic locations in the Upper East and Upper West Regions to foment chaos. We have also discovered plans by the NDC to use ambulances to transport weapons to these thugs on election day. This deceitful strategy will also not work under our watch.
Additionally, on election day, the NDC plans to deploy thugs on motorbikes to shoot indiscriminately in NPP strongholds, to create fear and panic to suppress voter turnout and disrupt the counting process. We are also well informed that some leading NDC members, including a retired Commissioner of Police, are coordinating efforts to escalate insecurity in the Ashanti Region and other NPP strongholds.
This plan includes engaging armed robbers and other criminal elements to increase cases of robbery and kidnapping in the days leading up to the elections. We are assured that the security forces are on top of this and Ghanaians have very little to worry about.
But we need to make them aware of the evil intentions of the opposition party. An opposition that has used the last four years to frustrate government business and wants to use the defeat that awaits it on December 7 to disturb our democracy.
Ladies and Gentlemen, despite the enactment of the AntiVigilantism Act, the NDC, on November 4, 2024, launched their vigilante group, the “Azoka Boys,” in the Asawase Constituency in the Ashanti region. These individuals, known for their violent activities in previous elections, have been tasked with intimidating voters in the Ashanti Region to undermine voter confidence and disrupt the electoral process. Rest assured, the NPP will not sit down to let these hooligans succeed.
It is disheartening that the launch of the Azoka Boys occurred in the full glare of the public, yet critical stakeholders, including the media, civil society organizations, religious bodies, and traditional authorities, have remained silent. This silence emboldens the NDC’s dangerous plans, which they plan to extend beyond the Ashanti Region to northern Ghana, where the NPP has made significant inroads.
We want to assure Ghanaians that the NPP has seen through the NDC’s plans and will use all lawful means to safeguard the sanctity of the December 7 electoral processes and defend Ghana’s democracy.
Ladies and Gentlemen, yesterday, November 19, 2024, the National Communications Officer of the NDC, Sammy Gyamfi, convened a press conference where he made baseless and frivolous allegations that the NPP is planning to rig the December 7 elections. Among his outlandish claims, he alleged that Brigadier General Opoku, the General Officer Commanding the Central Command of the Ghana Armed Forces, is part of a supposed scheme involving ballot stuffing, swapping of ballot boxes and pink sheets, and other clandestine activities to tilt the balance of victory in favour of the NPP ahead of the December 7 elections. These allegations, he claimed, are targeted at the Ashanti Region, beginning with the special voting exercise scheduled for December 2.
Permit me to utilise this press conference to state emphatically that the allegations by Sammy Gyamfi and the NDC are entirely baseless, devoid of any iota of credible evidence, and represent yet another desperate attempt by the NDC to raise tensions and distract the people of Ghana from their misdeeds. The press conference by Sammy Gyamfi is one of the old tricks of the NDC which they deploy to psyche their support upon sensing an imminent defeat.
Indeed, Sammy Gyamfi and the NDC failed to substantiate their claims with facts or evidence, demonstrating that this is nothing more than a fabrication designed to divert attention from the NDC’s wicked machinations to destabilize the Ashanti Region—all because it is the stronghold of the NPP.
Let me repeat that the NPP is fully aware of the dangerous ploys by individuals including retired Commissioner of Police Kofi Boakye, who are working tirelessly to create instability in the Ashanti Region. Their actions are a reaction to the growing momentum of the NPP’s effective campaign, led by Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia. The people of the Ashanti Region have witnessed the NPP’s strong performance and are ready to come out in their numbers to vote massively for the party on December 7.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the NDC’s desperation is palpable. Their press conference is part of a broader strategy to create unnecessary tension, fear, and panic in the Ashanti Region by manufacturing an atmosphere of insecurity. Unfortunately, in doing so, the NDC has stooped to tarnishing the hard-earned reputation of Brigadier General Opoku and the Central Command of the Ghana Armed Forces. Such baseless attacks on the integrity of our armed forces are reckless and dangerous. Members of the Ghana Armed Forces have taken note of these attempts to sully their reputation, and we urge them to respond by rejecting the NDC at the polls during the special voting exercise.
Let it be known that the NPP will not tolerate any such devilish plans by the NDC. We call on the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and all security and intelligence agencies to closely monitor individuals like COP Kofi Boakye (rtd), who have been identified as central figures in these destabilizing schemes. The NPP is also serving notice that any individual who attempts to foment chaos in the Ashanti Region should think twice, as such actions will be met with equal force to protect the peace, stability, and democratic process of our nation.
We further urge the Inspector General of Police to arrest all individuals involved in the launch of the Azoka Boys in Asawase and investigate the NDC’s planned acts of vigilantism. We, again, call on all State Security and Intelligence agencies to be vigilant and proactive in thwarting the NDC’s dangerous machinations.
12. Let history serve as a warning to the NDC: no party since 2000, at least, has ever succeeded in using violence to win an election. On the contrary, violence undermines the efforts of those who plan it and strengthens the resolve of the party it targets. The NDC would do well to abandon its destructive plans and focus on competing peacefully and fairly even if the writing is on the wall against them. They should remember that there is hope for the NDC after John Dramani Mahama.
The NPP remains a party of peace, committed to free, fair, and transparent elections. We will, however, not countenance any attempt to subvert the will of the people through intimidation or violence. We call on all well-meaning Ghanaians to reject the NDC’s tactics and stand firm in defending our democracy. Let us show the world once again that Ghana is a shining example of peaceful and credible elections. Thank you, and may God bless our homeland Ghana.
