Man Attacks NDC chairman with guns at party meeting

A reconciliation meeting convened by the Ayawaso Central Constituency of the governing NDC ended abruptly after a member of the party pulled out a gun and started firing. People rolled over each other to escape through various directions causing minor injuries to some of the attendees. It is not clear what his motive was, but from reliable sources he first aimed at the constituency chairman Ebenezer Arkutu but missed as all ran helter-skelter for their lives. Following disturbances in the constituency for some time now, the National Executives of the National Democratic Congress decided to meet the leadership to thrash out issues affecting the smooth running of the constituency located in the Greater Accra Region.

Ahead of that meeting, expected to be held this week, the constituency executives met all the Branch Executives from the 131 Polling Stations within the constituency on Sunday, February 28, 2016. The meeting was progressing steadily at the residence of a leading member of the party, Dr. Offei Agyeman at Kokomlemle, when one of the participants who could not hold his anger in a heated argument pulled a gun and fired gunshots to disperse the meeting.

A woman’s organizer at the constituency, Theresa Gbekie (King David Ward) who confirmed the incident described it as “very serious”. “It looks like they were prepared for whatever before coming to the meeting, because you cannot come to a party meeting with a gun when we are not fighting,” she narrated. According to her, when members of the party were all sharing their opinions about issues affecting the party, a man whose name was given as Anin with about ten macho men believed to be carrying guns, tried to physically attack the chairman but were prevented.

The gunman became unruly and was therefore bundled and threw out of the venue for the meeting, Theresa recalled. This apparently incensed him and started firing gunshots and jumped onto his motorbike and rode off. Nobody was however hit by the bullets. The incident was reported at the Nima Police Station who are on a manhunt for the gunman.