With less than a week to the New Patriotic Party (NPP) National Delegates Conference in Tamale the Northern Regional capital, an aspiring General Secretary, Kwabena Agyepong, has bemoaned what he described as vile propaganda against him from the Nana Akufo-Addo camp.
He particularly denied an electronic phone conversation in which his aide, David Opoku Ansah alias “OPK” is said to have called Nana Addo “an Old Dwarf” incapable of winning a presidential election.
Mr. Agyepong, also denied claims that he and ex-President, John Agyekum Kufour, have an Agenda 2020 to ensure that the 2012 presidential candidate of the party, Nana Akufo-Addo, loses the 2016 general elections are concocted allegations “calculated to depict a fractured relationship between a potential presidential aspirant and myself”.
In a statement issued in Accra last Friday, Mr. Agyepong, who operated as Presidential Secretary in the Kufuor Government said, he was convinced his opponents are peddling such falsehood, because he is the preferred candidate for the NPP General Secretary position at the forthcoming National Delegates Conference.
He, therefore, urged party delegates to disregard the “baseless concoctions” and make the right choice.
Mr. Agyepong’s statement is sequel to one issued by a member of the Nana Akufo-Addo team, Charles Nii Teiko Tagoe, who accused him of wanting to sack him from the NPP, suggesting that he (Agyepong) is tribalistic as he is anti-Ga.
Nii Teiko Tagoe, who nearly beat him up at the Nima residence of Nana Akufu-Addo, had stated on Peace FM that Mr. Agyapong has made life unbearable for him, because he is a Ga. He later revealed that Kwabena Agyapong harbours some hatred for Nana Akufo-Addo.
The young man, popularly called “Aboo”, who was a member of the party’s 2012 Election Campaign Team in-charge of social media site; facebook , was first to go public and narrate the ordeal he went through, because Mr. Agyapong refused to shake hands with him.
Speaking on Peace FM, Nii Tagoe revealed that “Mr. Agyapong arrived at Nana Addo’s residence and was exchanging pleasantries and handshakes with the people around. I deemed it right to step aside and allow him greet the elders first before doing same with him.
So what I did was to step aside and wait for my turn. When he got to my end he refused to shake my hand and I drew his attention. But surprisingly, he replied that ‘you don’t have to draw my attention before I greet you’. From that point, tempers rose and we exchanged heated words”.
Accusing the General Secretary aspirant of being arrogant and someone who dislikes Gas, Nii Teiko Tagoe said, he was also privy to plans by elements within Kwabena Agyepong’s camp to oust him (Teiko) from the party headquarters, should he (Kwabena) be elected as General Secretary.
“Why would they want to do that?…I’m a Ga…and I don’t feel safe in NPP,” he said.
But a Special Aide to Mr. Agyepong, Davis Opoku, came out to rubbish Nii Teiko Tagoe’s story.
He posited that it was unmeritorious for Mr. Tagoe to go on air and brand Mr. Agyapong as an “arrogant” person who dislikes Gas.
Speaking on the same platform, Davis Opoku noted that it was wrong for Mr. Tagoe to fabricate such sensitive issues, when the party was preparing for a National Executive election; of which Mr. Agyapong is contesting.
He advised him not to use tribal issues to court public sympathy for any of the aspirants he (Teiko) is rooting for and reminded him that such games could cause the party their fortunes in the next general elections.
“And in any case, why would Mr Agyapong want to oust him from the party headquarters? He (Teiko) is not an executive of the party, neither is he holding any official role at the headquarters to warrant any alleged planned removal from office,” Davis Opoku said.
Nii Teiko Tagoe fired back, this time in a statement widely circulated on the social media and as well as Ghanaweb saying, “I wish to apologise to Kwabena Agyepong, Nana Akufo-Addo and the New Patriotic Party for the unfortunate words with which I reacted to Kwabena Agyepong at Nana Addo’s house, when the aspiring General Secretary refused to greet me in a line of people”.
He went on “I felt very humiliated not just by his refusal to greet me, but his response when I tried to draw his attention to it. His response that I shouldn’t draw his attention to it because he didn’t have to greet me, was what got me to shout back at him that he was an arrogant this and that. I am sorry for losing my cool”.
“But, I will also ask Mr. Kwabena Agyepong, who is aspiring to be the General Secretary of the NPP, to tell the Communications Director of his campaign, Davis Opoku Ansah (alias OPK) to stop insulting Nana Akufo-Addo”.
He accused Mr. Agyapong’s aide of starting the fight.
“It was this same OPK, who put out to the media yesterday that I attacked Kwabena Agyepong at Nana Akufo-Addo’s residence. Adding, “Their hatred for Nana Akufo-Addo only betrays what some of us fear they would do if they get hold of this party”.
According to Nii Teiko Tagoe, “I do not begrudge OPK to still see Alan Kyerematen as the candidate for the NPP. After all, Alan has every right to contest and he has behaved as a gentleman during all this back and forth with party elections”.
“Also, I do not take anything away from OPK to think that Kwabena Agyepong becoming the General Secretary will assist that difficult task. But, some of us will not take kindly to OPK claiming he loves the NPP and yet continues to pour insults on the man the majority of NPP love, Nana Akufo-Addo”.
“This afternoon, I chanced upon a chat thread between OPK and another party member between 1:20pm and 3:06.
In this very disturbing WhatsApp discussion this same OPK described Nana Akufo-Addo as “an old dwarf”.
He called Nana Akufo-Addo “a damaged commodity.” He was asked, “How can you say Nana Addo is a damaged commodity”?
His reply: There is nothing we can do with him.” Why?
He answered: “Tweaa Akufo-Addo.” Is it mere hatred, he was asked. He replied: “Hatred for the old dwarf??”
Davis, why are u people doing that? He responded, “Doing what?”
Destroying the fortunes of the party, he was told. He shot back: “What fortunes?” Of winning power. 2016.
He hit back: “Look Nana Addo can’t win elections in Ghana SIMPLICITA” This was a conversation between two NPP people: OPK, Kwabena Agyepong’s right hand man and a party loyalist, whose identity I will protect for now. Nii Teiko Tagoe’s statement concluded.
OPK has meanwhile told The Herald that the said conservation was faked, perhaps by Nii Teiko Tagoe, adding he had never been involved in any such chat with anyone as the person he was supposed to be chatting on the phone could not be ascertain.
Mr. Agyapong’s statement issued last Friday asked that the vile propaganda must stop because “it has been my policy as an aspirant to refrain from vile propaganda against my opponents. My campaign has been issue based, and issues only”.
“This is important to me because I believe we require a genuinely united Party for victory 2016, it is important for me to campaign in a way that has the party’s ultimate interest at heart. There is no need for me to engage in unsubstantiated and concocted allegations against my fellow aspirants”, the ex-NPP presidential aspirant said.
“I know however that, most contests, the favorite becomes a target of well-orchestrated propaganda aimed at not only distracting him but to cause mass dis-affection among delegates. It is in this regard that I call on all delegates through your able medium to ignore and condemn those persons propagating falsehood about me and any of my aides. These tactics have been carried out with a great degree of sophistry calculated to mislead unsuspecting users of these platforms” the statement said.
“There are a litany of issues of concern. Currently making the rounds on various electronic media platform (Whatsapp & Facebook) includes: A Photoshop publication allegedly showing a conversation between an aide of mine and a supposed “ghost” person. The issue of a so-called Agenda 2020”, it said.
He appealed “to all those engaging in these unethical practices to put a stop to the misuse of ICT in this internal election of our great party, the NPP”.
“The Headlines of Informer & Herald this week are cases in point. Weather (sic) this vile propaganda is external or internal, it is clearly calculated to depict a fractured relationship between a potential presidential aspirant and myself”, and concluded “…..we shall remain focused. There is no need to dissipate valuable energy smearing ourselves. What is going on is very disturbing. My candid appeal to all delegates is for them to disregard these baseless concoctions”.