Koku Anyidoho to NPP: ‘We won’t allow lawlessness

A deputy General Secretary of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC), Koku Anyidoho, has said the Mahama administration and the security agencies will not allow “lawlessness” to fester in the country.

Mr Anyidoho’s comment was in response to claims by the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) that President John Mahama and the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) were deliberately putting the lives of his arch-rival, Nana Akufo-Addo, and his running mate, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, in danger.

At a press conference on Thursday March 24, acting Chairman of the NPP Mr Freddie Blay said intelligence picked by the party pointed to the effect that Mr Mahama’s administration and the NDC were compromising the safety of Mr Akufo-Addo and Dr Bawumia by causing the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) to arrest three South African ex-police officers, who were training some 15 people meant to protect the flagbearer and his running mate.

By so doing, Mr Akufo-Addo and Dr Bawumia will be exposed to, and become targets of, attack, Mr Blay said.

Mr Blay further indicated that the invitation of the trio to train party security was necessitated by intelligence they had picked earlier, of a likely attack on the flagbearer of the NPP.

According to him, they cannot leave anything to chance as the country’s security apparatus failed to protect the late Member of Parliament (MP) for Abuakwa North, Joseph Boakye Danquah-Adu, who was murdered at his residence in Accra on February 9.

“We picked up intelligence that there would be an effort, as it were, to make some attack on our presidential candidate and his vice. We got information that if we are not careful, it will happen, so, we are taking steps to ensure that it does not happen. Are we wrong in doing that?” he asked in an interview Thursday.

Asked by Francis Abban in an interview on Joy FM whether they had reported the suspected attack to the police, Mr Blay said: “The first thing that you do is to protect ourselves and take steps to ensure that it does not happen. We were in this country when JB was murdered. As I talk to you now not much has been done about it.”

But Mr Anyidoho maintains that the invitation of foreign nationals into the country to train individuals for security purposes was inappropriate.

“If Freddie Blay has what it takes to pick up intelligence, why begrudge the Bureau of National Intelligence (BNI) for doing what they have done? Is the BNI not more equipped to pick the intelligence and act on it? So, because of Freddie Blay’s desire, we should allow lawlessness in this country? It will never happen,” he reiterated.