Mills Leads War Dogs

‘Let no one use propaganda to seek to discredit our proven record of commitment to Ghana’s democracy … I would not want a single drop of Ghanaian blood to be spilled for me to become President,’ Nana Addo told journalists in Ho yesterday.

He was explaining the reason for the ‘all die be die’ slogan, which the National Democratic Congress (NDC), led by President Atta Mills, had been using as part of its propaganda machinery.

Nana Akufo-Addo said the slogan came as a result of NPP activists being reduced to second-class citizens and becoming victims of vituperations, discrimination, intimidation, aggression and incarceration without protection from the state.

According to him, NPP supporters knew fully well what was meant by the ‘all die be die’ slogan.

‘They know it is not a call on them to initiate violence. It is a defensive exhortation. It is but a call to the victims of aggression to stand firm and if need be, defend themselves against the aggressor,’ he explained.

‘Ghanaian democrats, no matter their party affiliation, should stand shoulder to shoulder to defend and promote the aims of our democratic republic that also include standing up against the bully at the polling station,’ he added.

The opposition leader was addressing a press conference at Ho, the Volta Regional capital, when he toured the region, where a large crowd of party faithful had gathered to welcome him enthusiastically, chanting the ‘all die be die’ slogan with zeal.

Nana Addo said it was no surprise to him and the party leadership that there had not been a single violent incident occurring anywhere in the country by party supporters as a result of the slogan and challenged President Mills to send a similar message to his out-of-control foot-soldiers.

Nana Akufo-Addo noted with regret that last Thursday February 17 was a sad day in the nation’s history; a day the people of Ghana saw a most unbecoming sight when the President of the Republic used the solemn occasion of the State of the Nation Address and podium of Parliament to attack and threaten his political opponents.

The NPP flagbearer said he was saddened that the President put up such an unseemly conduct just because of the demand by his opponents for peaceful, free and fair elections in 2012, devoid of violence, intimidation and fraud, describing the incident as very disturbing.

‘Instead of using that august opportunity to address these legitimate concerns, he opted to speak as the leader of a political party on an imaginary battlefield,’ Nana Addo said.

He reminded President Mills that until January 7, 2013, he remained the President of 24 million people of rich, diverse backgrounds and pan-tribal unity and asked that all Ghanaians be treated equally by the state, adding that the NPP had never said any one group of Ghanaians was superior to another.

Rampaging NDC Foot-Soldiers
Nana Addo recalled how over the last two years, the NPP had detailed a catalogue of savage attacks against its activists which had gone unpunished.

‘We have protested the apparently selective manner in which the law is being applied by the State against those perceived to be political opponents of the ruling government,’ he said.

Nana explained that with the help of the media, the President’s attention had been drawn to the impunity with which the so-called foot-soldiers of his party had spent the last 25 months attacking people and property, and continually called on the President to take decisive action to protect Ghanaians, including NPP members who had suffered such barbarity like the one at Agbogbloshie.

Four people suspected to be NPP supporters were butchered in front of a police station at Agbogbloshie in the presence of policemen but not a soul has been arrested, Nana Addo said.

The NPP, he explained, had also expressed worry about the violence, as electoral tragedies were evident in all three parliamentary contests held under Mills’ watch, in Akwatia, Chereponi and Atiwa- a situation unknown under the Kufuor era which saw the conduct of 10 by-elections.

The first four months of the Presidency, Nana Addo recalled, were spent on intimidating innocent citizens and political opponents, mentioning arson attacks in Nyihini, Lamashegu, Worizehi, Choggu and Gumbihini in the Northern region where all the 27 properties that were torched belonged NPP members.

In the most outrageous case, Madame Sadia Seidu, a Nursing Officer and wife of former Tamale NADMO Co-ordinator suffered multiple cutlass wounds at the hands of a mob who burnt and razed down the family’s 18-room compound house. Continued