The opposition NPP’s Director of Communications, Richard Ahiagbah, has blamed comments made by the NDC’s National Chairman, Sofo Azorka, for fueling tensions during the Akwatia by-election.
Speaking on Joy News after the polls, he insisted that inflammatory language on the campaign trail contributed significantly to the violence that marred the contest.
“Yeah, I mean, practically, you saw the campaign itself was recourse, some very inflammatory languages were used.
“If you talk about what the national chairman of the NDC, Sofo Azorka, came there in a rather coded way, talking about, how is it that the power belongs to the NDC, technically, and so therefore are able to do whatever it is, including being able to seize and reallocate the [mining] concessions belonging to our candidate,” he said.
According to him, such rhetoric was designed to appeal to illegal miners in the constituency, a strategy he described as dangerous.
“That’s a way of, you know, appealing to galamseyers, which we know that a lot of galamsey goes on in Akwatia.
“The effort is to streamline it, make sure it’s legal, but then, in its present form, it’s injurious to all of us in our society. But then they found a way to leverage that,” he added.
Mr. Ahiagbah admitted the NPP was disappointed with the outcome of the by-election, but said the party had formally petitioned the Inspector General of Police (IGP) over the nature of the violence.
“It was not the result we anticipated, the efforts we put in. We thought that would have won that election. As it is, a lot of things have happened, some of which I’m sure we’ll discuss, and you have seen our petition to the IGP in the nature of the violence that happened there.
“So a lot of factors played a role in our laws, but we have embraced the result, and we demand that certain actions be taken,” he stressed.
He also pointed to the presence of other NDC leaders, including the party’s National Organiser, as evidence of what he described as an unusual and targeted campaign strategy.
“I think the national organiser was in the constituency in a rather uncharacteristic manner, calling on the President to seize all operations,” Mr. Ahiagbah noted.