'Owners of NPP bigger than 70 people sitting in Accra' - Afoko

The embattled National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party Paul Afoko has taken a swipe at the National Executives and the National Council of the party for disrespecting the Party’s Disciplinary Committee and working against the party's interest to suspend him as the national chairman.

Mr Afoko at a press conference said, "The decision is arbitrary and unlawful and constitutes a substantial threat to our vision and a threat to our freedom of expression and association and danger to our party’s values. It’s illogical to suspend officers who are supposed to work and win elections. Such attitude constitutes an attack on the party’s fortunes."

The National Council a week ago affirmed the decision by the National Executive Council (NEC) to suspend Paul Afoko.

The decision was arrived at after a meeting on Thursday November 12, to deliberate and consider an appeal document submitted to the party by Mr. Afoko.

He indicated that "The owners of the party are not the 70 people sitting in Accra."

Afoko added that the National Council of the party, which affirmed the decision of the National Executive Committee is in “clear breach of the rules of natural justice."

Describing the decision as “gross illegality,” Afoko opined he was not surprised at the “outcome of the votes at the illegal National Council meeting” which upheld the decision to suspend him.

"After exhausting all the internal processes I am left with no option than to head to the court to seek interpretation of my party’s constitution. I am not only doing this for myself but for everyone else including the flagbearer of our party, because today it is the national chairman, the next time it may be a flagbearer. It is wrong for some seventy people to sit in a room somewhere in Accra and decide to remove an elected official, he stated.