Aide to former Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, Dennis Miracles Aboagye, has issued a stern ultimatum to the Ghana Police Service and President John Dramani Mahama, demanding immediate action following the violent incidents that rocked the Ablekuma North parliamentary rerun.
Aboagye said he is running out of patience after six days of silence and inaction from authorities in an interview on Channel One TV’s Breakfast Daily on Wednesday, July 16.
“It has been six days. If nothing is done, the only thing that will be left for the NPP to do is to set up the Self-Protection Committee on Saturday, and I am going to insist,” he declared.
He indicated that during the upcoming NPP reform conference on Saturday, he will personally table a motion for the creation of the committee to defend party agents and supporters at polling stations.
“Saturday is a conference for reforms. I will raise my hand and recommend that while we have a legal and elections committee, we need a Self-Protection Committee. Because if the NPP doesn’t do that, I will not go out there to any polling station,” he said firmly.
Aboagye explained that the proposed committee would be responsible for physical security in tense electoral environments, especially where state security appears absent or ineffective.
“The nature of this committee will be that when we find ourselves in a chaotic scene, I should have like 10 or 20 people from the NPP standing in to protect me because the police cannot do it for me,” he added.
He warned that if the Ghana Police and President Mahama do not intervene before the weekend, he will move forward with the proposal.
“Between now and Saturday, if the Ghana Police and the President do not act, I will recommend a Self-Protection Committee whose responsibility is to ensure that NPP functionaries and other citizens who go to vote will have protection,” Aboagye stated.
