{"id":662003,"date":"2019-07-22T18:47:30","date_gmt":"2019-07-22T18:47:30","guid":{"rendered":"<br><div>\n\t\t\n<p><strong>John Dramani Mahama<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Former President John Dramani Mahama has\nstoked fire in the trial of Gregory Afoko who has been accused of pouring acid\non Upper East Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) that le"},"modified":"2019-07-22T18:47:30","modified_gmt":"2019-07-22T18:47:30","slug":"mahama-stokes-fire-in-afoko-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/07\/22\/mahama-stokes-fire-in-afoko-trial\/","title":{"rendered":"Mahama Stokes Fire In Afoko Trial"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><strong>John Dramani Mahama<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Former President John Dramani Mahama has<br \/>\nstoked fire in the trial of Gregory Afoko who has been accused of pouring acid<br \/>\non Upper East Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) that led to<br \/>\nhis death.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Mahama claims the manner, in which the<br \/>\ngovernment is handling the case which is in court, is an affront to the rule of<br \/>\nlaw.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Mahama, who will be leading the NDC<br \/>\nin the 2020 presidential elections after losing miserably in 2016, claims<br \/>\ngovernment made a mistake when it decided to rescind the bail granted to the<br \/>\nsuspect in March this year.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to members of his party and monitored<br \/>\nby <em>Citi FM<\/em>, the former President<br \/>\nurged the clergy and traditional rulers to speak up for government to realise<br \/>\nits \u2018mistakes.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>His comments have been received with<br \/>\nmixed reactions; some persons are suggesting that the former President was<br \/>\nriding on the back of the trial as one of his \u2018tactics\u2019 to win public sympathy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJust recently in court, someone<br \/>\nrequested bail and it was granted by the court but government has rescinded the<br \/>\nbail. Every country is governed by rules. If government decides not to abide by<br \/>\nthe rules then where lies our fate as a country,\u201d Mr. Mahama is reported to<br \/>\nhave said.<\/p>\n<p>He added that \u201cthe young man was<br \/>\nincarcerated for a long while before being arraigned. This could be any other<br \/>\nperson too so the clergy and traditional rulers must speak up for government to<br \/>\nknow its mistakes.<\/p>\n<p><strong>First Arrest <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Gregory Afoko was arrested in May 2015<br \/>\nfor allegedly pouring acid on the Upper East Regional Chairman of the NPP,<br \/>\nAdams Mahama, leading to his untimely death.<\/p>\n<p>He is alleged to have conspired with<br \/>\nAsabke Alangdi, who was recently arrested from his hideout in the Ivory Coast,<br \/>\nto commit the heinous crime.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Trial<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Afoko was put before an Accra High Court<br \/>\ncharged with murder after an Accra Central Magistrate Court committed him for<br \/>\ntrial.<\/p>\n<p>He pleaded not guilty to the charge of<br \/>\nmurder levelled against him.<\/p>\n<p>The state had closed its case after<br \/>\ncalling 14 prosecution witnesses, including the wife of the late Adams Mahama.<\/p>\n<p>Afoko subsequently opened his defence<br \/>\nand vehemently denied the charges against him. <\/p>\n<p>He called his elder brother, John Afoko,<br \/>\nas his only witness in the matter in a jury trial.<\/p>\n<p>The trial judge Justice Lawrence L.<br \/>\nMensah was on course to conclude the case when on January 28 the Attorney<br \/>\nGeneral\u2019s Department entered a nolle prosequi in the matter following the<br \/>\narrest of Alangdi.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Bail<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>An Accra High Court in March granted<br \/>\nAfoko bail of GH\u00a2500,000 with two sureties, one to be justified.<\/p>\n<p>But the bail was rescinded by another<br \/>\nHigh Court just last Monday following an application filed by the Office of the<br \/>\nAttorney-General (A-G).<\/p>\n<p>According to the prosecution, the A-G<br \/>\nhad cause to believe that given the severity of the punishment Afoko is likely<br \/>\nto face if found guilty, he would not make himself available for the trial if<br \/>\nthe bail is not rescinded.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Second Trial<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The new trial of Afoko and his alleged<br \/>\naccomplice Alangdi began before an Accra High Court last week after the court<br \/>\nsuccessfully empanelled a seven-member jury.<\/p>\n<p>The two are alleged to have poured acid<br \/>\non the deceased who suffered severe bodily burns and died the next day while on<br \/>\nadmission at the Bolgatanga Municipal Hospital.<\/p>\n<p>Afoko and Asabke are before the court on two counts of conspiracy to commit crime and murder to which they all pleaded not guilty.<\/p>\n<p><strong>BY Gibril Abdul Razak<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>John Dramani Mahama Former President John Dramani Mahama has stoked fire in the trial of Gregory Afoko who has been accused of pouring acid on Upper East Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) that led to his death. Mr. Mahama claims the manner, in which the government is handling the case which is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":662004,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-662003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Mahama Stokes Fire In Afoko Trial - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/07\/22\/mahama-stokes-fire-in-afoko-trial\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Mahama Stokes Fire In Afoko Trial - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"John Dramani Mahama Former President John Dramani Mahama has stoked fire in the trial of Gregory Afoko who has been accused of pouring acid on Upper East Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) that led to his death. Mr. Mahama claims the manner, in which the government is handling the case which is [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/John-Mahama-2-1.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ghana News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/22\\\/mahama-stokes-fire-in-afoko-trial\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/22\\\/mahama-stokes-fire-in-afoko-trial\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ghana News\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/53d06a757a4242f113d200e3c290c036\"},\"headline\":\"Mahama Stokes Fire In Afoko Trial\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-07-22T18:47:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/22\\\/mahama-stokes-fire-in-afoko-trial\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":592,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/22\\\/mahama-stokes-fire-in-afoko-trial\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/John-Mahama-2-1.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/22\\\/mahama-stokes-fire-in-afoko-trial\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/22\\\/mahama-stokes-fire-in-afoko-trial\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/22\\\/mahama-stokes-fire-in-afoko-trial\\\/\",\"name\":\"Mahama Stokes Fire In Afoko Trial - Ghanamma.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/22\\\/mahama-stokes-fire-in-afoko-trial\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/22\\\/mahama-stokes-fire-in-afoko-trial\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/John-Mahama-2-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-07-22T18:47:30+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/53d06a757a4242f113d200e3c290c036\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/22\\\/mahama-stokes-fire-in-afoko-trial\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/22\\\/mahama-stokes-fire-in-afoko-trial\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/John-Mahama-2-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/John-Mahama-2-1.jpg\",\"width\":620,\"height\":330},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ghanamma.com\",\"description\":\"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/53d06a757a4242f113d200e3c290c036\",\"name\":\"Ghana News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Ghana News\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Mahama Stokes Fire In Afoko Trial - Ghanamma.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/07\/22\/mahama-stokes-fire-in-afoko-trial\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Mahama Stokes Fire In Afoko Trial - Ghanamma.com","twitter_description":"John Dramani Mahama Former President John Dramani Mahama has stoked fire in the trial of Gregory Afoko who has been accused of pouring acid on Upper East Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) that led to his death. Mr. Mahama claims the manner, in which the government is handling the case which is [&hellip;]","twitter_image":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/John-Mahama-2-1.jpg","twitter_creator":"@ghanamma","twitter_site":"@ghanamma","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ghana News","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/07\/22\/mahama-stokes-fire-in-afoko-trial\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/07\/22\/mahama-stokes-fire-in-afoko-trial\/"},"author":{"name":"Ghana News","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/#\/schema\/person\/53d06a757a4242f113d200e3c290c036"},"headline":"Mahama Stokes Fire In Afoko Trial","datePublished":"2019-07-22T18:47:30+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/07\/22\/mahama-stokes-fire-in-afoko-trial\/"},"wordCount":592,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/07\/22\/mahama-stokes-fire-in-afoko-trial\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/John-Mahama-2-1.jpg","articleSection":["Politics"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/07\/22\/mahama-stokes-fire-in-afoko-trial\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/07\/22\/mahama-stokes-fire-in-afoko-trial\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/07\/22\/mahama-stokes-fire-in-afoko-trial\/","name":"Mahama Stokes Fire In Afoko Trial - Ghanamma.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/07\/22\/mahama-stokes-fire-in-afoko-trial\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/07\/22\/mahama-stokes-fire-in-afoko-trial\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/John-Mahama-2-1.jpg","datePublished":"2019-07-22T18:47:30+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/#\/schema\/person\/53d06a757a4242f113d200e3c290c036"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/07\/22\/mahama-stokes-fire-in-afoko-trial\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/07\/22\/mahama-stokes-fire-in-afoko-trial\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/John-Mahama-2-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/John-Mahama-2-1.jpg","width":620,"height":330},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/","name":"Ghanamma.com","description":"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/#\/schema\/person\/53d06a757a4242f113d200e3c290c036","name":"Ghana News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Ghana News"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=662003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662003\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/662004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=662003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=662003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=662003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}