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The attempt by suspended National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Paul Afoko to downplay the evidence-based stories published by this paper to contradict his claim relative to the NPP/Serbian event in July 2014, has been deflated as some party Regional Executives have challenged him to openly deny that he “officially opened the program and even promised more of such trainings”.

“When you (Gordon Asare-Bediako) interviewed me last week, I was bold enough to snap a photograph with you because I knew I was telling the truth so Mr. Afoko should be bold and stop hiding behind unknown sources to defend him. Let the so called executives who said they were at the program own up. I am telling you that what Mr. Afoko put out in the Africawatch magazine was a falsehood”, stated Kwame Appiah Kodua, Eastern Regional NPP Organizer.

“Let me put it on record that the arrival date for the program was on July 7, 2014. Most of us arrived late in the evening because we travelled from afar and the opening was on July 8, 2014 where Mr Afoko and Mr. Kwabena Agyepong came to officially open the program. I must put it on record that Mr. Afoko did not come to the program in a mourning dress so it could be that after the funeral service, he changed his dress to suit the occasion”, explained Mr. Kodua in a telephone chat last Friday.

Mr. Seidu also in a telephone interview over the weekend, expressed surprise at the “shadow boxing by Mr. Afoko. If the people quoted by the newspapers were really at the training, why are they hiding their identities? NPP does not have ghost executives so they should come out now”.

The New Crusading GUIDE last week Wednesday, 11th May, 2016 published a story based on separate interviews with Kwame Appiah Kodua, Eastern Regional NPP Organizer and Isaac Seidu, Upper West NPP Organizer, where the duo expressed shock at the claims by Mr. Afoko and described them as “ridiculous”.

The two Executives said Mr. Afoko officially opened the program and promised that there “would be more of such programs to equip us win power at the polls”.

“The program was officially opened by the National Chairman (Afoko) and the General Secretary (Kwabena Agyepong). The General Secretary spoke first after which Mr. Afoko took over”, the Eastern Regional NPP Organizer told The New Crusading GUIDE in an interview.

The office of Mr. Afoko has since last week remained silent when evidence started unfolding to discredit his claim in the Africawatch Magazine that “IN THE PRESENCE OF THE TWO SERBIANS, I ADMONISHED OUR PARTY PEOPLE AND ASKED THEM TO LEAVE THE HOTEL IMMEDIATELY AND GO HOME”.

However, in a surprise move, two different newspapers on Thursday, 12th May, 2016, published three different stories apparently to discredit the account of this paper and that of the two named Executives.

Although those stories were supposed to be reactions, they were not attributed to any known persons and the newspapers sought solace in anonymity. The closest the paper got to unveiling the mask of the source of the rebuttal was “sources close to Mr. Afoko”.

“Who are these sources, don’t they have identity and what is preventing Mr. Afoko from issuing a press statement to debunk our account?” queried Mr Seidu, Upper West Regional NPP Organizer.

The suspended NPP National Chairman in an interview with the Africawatch Magazine in its April edition in part said:

"Let me tell you this story. A few months after taking office in 2014, I was at a church service at the Ridge Church for the late Gladys Asmah. Our National Women’s Organizer, Otiko Djaba, came in very late and I made way for her to sit beside me. I asked her how she could be so late and she said “Chairman, are you not aware that we are camped at a hotel at Mile 7 in Achimota for training by the Serbians? All Regional Organizers, Women organizers, youth organizers, and Nassara coordinators are under- going training by the Serbians.

..I said, “what, what’s going on? I don’t know anything about it. My blood started boiling. I asked her who brought the Serbians into the country, and what was the training about? She became quiet.

“Immediately after the church service, I asked Djaba to take me to the hotel where they were camped and I asked General Secretary Kwabena Agyepong to join us.

“When we got to the hotel, I saw our people all over the place with two Serbians, a man and a woman, but I was told the Serbians were four and that two had left. I walked in and saw the National Organizer, John Boadu, and I asked him what was going on. He was holding a piece of paper, and I snatched the paper out of his hands. It was the training contents and I was shocked to my bones at what I was reading.

“THESE PEOPLE WERE OUT OF THEIR MINDS. THEY WANTED TO WIN THE ELECTIONS ON THE STREETS OF GHANA AND NOT AT THE BALLOT BOX. THAT’S THE MILITANCY I AM TALKING ABOUT. I TOLD THEM THAT, I PAUL AFOKO, AS CHAIRMAN OF THE NPP, WOULD NEVER ALLOW THEM TO TAKE THE PARTY ON THAT CRAZY ROUTE.

“IN THE PRESENCE OF THE TWO SERBIANS, I ADMONISHED OUR PARTY PEOPLE AND ASKED THEM TO LEAVE THE HOTEL IMMEDIATELY AND GO HOME”.

However Isaac Seidu who took part in the training session insists that and at no point did he witness that sad spectacle as narrated by Mr. Afoko. “LOOK MY BROTHER, IT IS A COMPLETE FALSEHOOD THAT HE IS PERPETUATING. NOTHING OF THAT SORT HAPPENED”.

Please stay tuned as the evidence relative to Mr. Paul Afoko’s presence and submission at the NPP/Serbians Event in July 2014 unfold…

*EDITOR’S NOTE

The New Crusading GUIDE in our edition of Monday May 11, 2016, erroneously published that the first day of the NPP/Serbian training program was on July 7, 2014. The correct date should have been July 8, 2014 which coincided with the funeral service for the late Mrs. Gladys Asmah. Any inconvenience is deeply regretted.