NDC Foot-Soldiers Storm Radio Gold To Lynch Their Own

A blood thirsty mob that was armed to the teeth and alleging to be members of the national Democratic Congress (NDC) last Saturday raided the premises of Radio Gold, an Accra-based private radio station, ostensibly to lynch a radio panelist for “offensive comments” he made against the Presidency. The armed mob scaled the wall of the building that houses the radio station, struggled with and overpowered security men, after which they invaded the building and moved from one office to another in search of their prey, Ras Mubarak. Ras was sitting in for spokesman for former President Jerry Rawlings Kofi Adams, who could not make it for the discussion.Ras, who describes himself as an apostle of Rawlings, stated, “It didn’t serve the interest of the NDC if Mills failed, but it was important for the President to help build trust.” This angered Nii Lantey Vanderpuye, special assistant to President Mills, who ordered his ‘troop’ to invade the station. The group, numbering about 20, went to the station around 11:20am driven in a green van with registration number GN 6640 Y to ostensibly teach Ras Mubarak a lesson. They claimed Ras Mubarak had made disparaging comments about Nii Lantey Vanderpuye, their master, on the programme ‘Alhaji and Alhaji’. Riot police in full gear had to be called in to separate the two sides as supporters of Rawlings also mobilized themselves to the station to support Mubarak, who was under attack from the Mills side. The programme, which was live on air with Ras Mubark, Sam P. Yalley and Hanan Gundado as studio guests, was discussing a wide range of issues including the fierce and bitter internal wrangling in the NDC and the way forward. By the time supporters of Jerry Rawlings heard of the incident and organized themselves from the Zongo Communities in Accra to launch a counter-attack on the first group, the situation had been brought under control.“Teams of armed policemen had to rush down to save the situation because the guys had entered the building and were upstairs looking for me because they thought the studio was still on the first floor but it had been relocated. “They said they wanted to kill me because I had criticized Nii Lantey Vanderpuye … now I drive looking into my side mirrors to see which vehicle is trailing me and I keep dodging because my life is at stake. This is happening just when there are reports of an assassination attempt on Kofi Adams so now anyone who speaks for President Rawlings must be victimized. “I would be meeting the Regional Police Command on Monday morning over the matter and I would also petition the party officially that Nii Lantey Vanderpuye cannot and should not hold us to ransom and he is causing too much confusion in the party,” Ras Mubarak told Daily Guide in a telephone interview yesterday. He explained what happened: “We were basically discussing the issue of the creeping disunity in the NDC and my point was that we need to rally behind the President because if he fails, we all fail as a party and as a nation but that unity cannot hold unless some misguided people around him stop fanning the flame of discord. “I cited Nii Lantey Vanderpuye as one of such person, Can you believe that Nii, a whole Special Aide to the President, told Citi FM that he and the Castle have information that I, Ras Mubarak, was in Kumasi with Nana Konadu, instigating people against the President? Funny! During that whole period he was claiming I was in Kumasi, I was far away in The Netherlands and even before then, I was in Norway and not Kumasi. “I was saying that such statements from people near the President are misguiding and do not help build party unity. There was another time I was being interviewed by Adakabre and this same Nii Lantey sent him a text message that I should not be taken serious because I was sacked form GBC and all that. But the records show that I resigned from the GBC at a time I was been lobbied to stay. I was not sacked. If I say such things, does it warrant him to r organize people from Odododiodoo to invade a radio station to misbehave? “This is the same indiscipline I was talking about and interestingly, no one had been arrested and no one would be arrested … the report of the attack is all over and no one from the Presidency or the Castle has even called me to say ‘Oh we do not support what happened to you’. The calls I have had all came from party supporters across the country and not from the people who organized the attack.” Ras Mubarak added. Daily Guide gathered that when the mob attacked the station, another NDC member in the studio, Sam P. Yarley, sneaked out and negotiated with the leaders of the attackers to calm down and talk to their followers but they would not give up until he gave them an undisclosed amount of money. The Daily Guide newspaper yesterday placed several unanswered phone calls to Nii Lantey Vanderpuye over the matter. A text message that was also sent to his phone was not replied as at press time yesterday evening.