National Chairman and General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) have been warned against attending the final funeral rites of the Upper East Regional chairman who died on Thursday.
The threat was issued by some aggrieved NPP youth when the party’s vice presidential candidate, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia led a delegation to the residence of the late regional chairman on Friday ahead of Saturday’s funeral.
One of the leaders of the group threatened mayhem if Paul Afoko and Kwabena Agyepong show up for the funeral.
[contextly_sidebar id=”C1ArQB78mJWWrYZyHqqecqWTkuCwmBrM”]They also gave a 24-hour ultimatum to the two national leaders to resign or face their wrath.
Addressing Dr. Bawumia and the delegation, the group leader said a list of persons who have been banned from attending the funeral is in circulation and failure for the two leaders to heed their call will spell doom.
“We have given a list of some members of this family that we would not want to see them here tomorrow – It is not a mere saying. You are hearing people saying they don’t want to see the National Chairman and the General Secretary here. It is not a joke,” he cautioned.
Following the acid attack on the Upper East Regional chairman of the party which led to his death on Thursday, there have been reports that the younger brother of Paul Afoko is the suspect who was picked up by the Police over his alleged involvement.
This development has given rise to calls for the National Chairman to resign since his continuous stay in office will cause further divisions within the party.
The group is of the view that Afoko cannot continue to stay in office while his brother has been fingered in the murder of the regional chairman.
“Afoko cannot continue to be in office when his brother is in the hands of the security. Investigations cannot continue when we have the same Afoko sitting at our national headquarters…so since the party is concerned and the national interest of the party is concerned, we demand that Paul Afoko should resign immediately.”
“We are giving a deadline, after tomorrow’s burial, we will advise ourselves within the week,” he added.
Another leader of the group indicated that in situations such as this, sacrifices would have to be made to ensure party unity therefore, “the sacrifice that we are demanding is the National Chairman whose brother’s name has been mentioned.”
“General Secreatry and Paul Afoko were in this region two weeks ago and that has brought about this mess that we have found ourselves in.”
They further called on the party’s flagbearer, Nana Akufo-Addo and his running mate to ensure that the perpetrators of the crime are brought to book
“We are pleading that you will make every move, everything humanly possible to get the perpetrators and if this is not done, we are assuring you that we cannot continue to be with this family.”
“We want you to fight it because we know that one of them has been arrested and has been sent to Accra. Do everything possible to make sure that we will get to the bottom of this matter.”
By: Efua Idan Osam/citifmonline.com/Ghana