The National Chairman of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) Samuel Ofosu Ampofo has confirmed that the party deployed its thugs the “Azorka Boys” during the recent Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election which was characterized by violence.
According to him, the “Azorka Boys” had to be brought down to Accra from Northern Ghana to provide security for the NDC party during the election.
Officials of National Security who have appeared before the Emile Short Commission probing the violence that marred the election have insisted that they picked information of a stockpile of arms in a house close to NDC Parliamentary candidate’s house, and are also aware that members of the two groups of thugs affiliated to the party, the “Azorka Boys” and “Hawks” had been deployed during the election.
It’s been reported that the misunderstanding resulting in six people being shot was caused by the Azorka Boys – who tried to forcibly prevent the National security operatives from acting on their intelligence, but the NDC has vehemently denied this assertion.
But in the secret recording,
“I mean you have Chief Azorka in my meeting saying, Chief thank you, I said why, he said if you had not taken this decision I don’t know how my men would have gone back to Tamale. The issue is that they had brought down the Kandahar Boys and the Kandahar boys know our boys from Tamale. You know it was a targeted attack and so once they spot you they invite them, and then around that time my people were so defenseless and they had packed themselves in pickups so cordon off and hounding them was very very easy and they had not anticipated all these things coming so it hasn’t been easy but for me how we take the battle from here is most critical.
“It is a question of mind game that they’ve come to play, I was here because I thought I should come and lift your spirits up and let you know that it was not a cowardice decision at all. It was a strategic decision which will benefit us,” Ofosu Ampofo added.