<<Print>>

Aide to the flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) is accusing presidential staffer Nii Lantey Vanderpuiye of the alleged assault on him and the NPP parliamentary candidate for the Ablekuma South Constituency Ursula Owusu at the Odododiodoo constituency on Wednesday. Speaking to XYZ News to confirm the incident, Samuel Abu Jinapor, who described Mr. Vanderpuiye as a thug, wondered what motivated the attack since they had only gone to the constituency to urge their supporters to go and register. �I think that it obviously must be that thug, Nii Lantey Vanderpuiye, who is the aide to the president masterminding all these attacks because he has had occasion to publicly state that if anybody wants, they should come there.� Madam Ursula Owusu, and Abu Jinapor were allegedly assaulted by some macho men in the Odododiodoo Constituency. The two are said to have been attacked at Kantamanto in Accra when the unknown macho men attacked and assaulted them with broken bottles and stones injuring Ursula Owusu in the process. Aubu Jinapor believes the presidential aide orchestrated the attack in an attempt to cow the NPP officials into submission. But Mr. Vanderpuiye who is also the NDC�s parliamentary candidate for Odododiodoo has denied the allegations. Speaking in an interview with Abraham Asare, host of What�s New on Radio XYZ 93.1 FM, Mr. Vanderpuiye stated that the only reason why the two NPP officials were attacked is because they provoked the assailants. �I think that if they had gone there and they had not insulted anybody, nobody would attack them� If they stop all these, the nonsense would stop.� He insisted that even though he knows nothing about the attack, he is to reach out to Madam Ursula Owusu for peace to prevail. He then offered a word of advice that: �Sometimes we must also be careful the way we throw ourselves around at certain places. So if you are somebody who has always incited people, [this is what happens to you]� If [Ursula] had gone to the place and she had gone there quietly; she had not touched anybody; she had not insulted anybody; I don�t think that people in Odododiodoo are so crazy that they will just get up and attack her.� Meanwhile, Abrampah Mensah, Head of Programmes at the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD) is calling on the security agencies to be proactive in the discharge of their duties to avert the escalation of violence as the nation nears the December polls.