Deputy General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress, Koku Anyidoho may not have received enough backlash over his ‘coup comments’ as more criticisms keep pouring in even after his arrest and bail by CID and BNI officials.
The latest to have joined in are his colleagues, Member of Parliament for Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa and Member of Parliament for Tamale Central, Inusah Fuseini who have clearly rendered his comments irresponsible, needless and unwarranted.
Speaking on Joynews’ Newsfile, Saturday, Mr. Ablakwa condemned the statements indicating that Mr. Anyidoho went overboard.
Citing the words of Former Attorney General Nii Ayikoi Otoo, he stated that politicians sometimes go overboard in their expressions particularly when they are enraged by certain occurrences around them, something he will describe as a brief possession by a spirit of sort; ‘Gbeshe’ spirit specifically like the Lawyer will put it.
In this particular instance he said, Mr. Anyidoho can be described as having been ‘possessed’ by one such spirit such that he lost control of what he was saying and went overboard.
“I must add quite hesitantly that across the divide, there have been politicians who if I’ll borrow the words of respected Lawyer and Former Attorney General, Ayikoi Otoo who talks about some Gbeshe spirit which sometimes falls on politicians and so we engage in excesses. I will describe Koku Anyidoho’s interview that he himself with hindsight, will say that he went overboard” he said.
Inusah Fuseini who was also a panelist on the show described Anyidoho’s comments as completely pointless and uncalled-for.
“To be honest with you, I also have a view that Koku’s comment was needless, was unwarranted and very unnecessary,” he said.
Ablakwa however mentioned constant goading from the host of the program as a key reason why Anyidoho was provoked to make those pronouncements. According to him, having sensed anger from Anyidoho’s previous responses, the host ought to have diverted the topic or rather found a different way of approaching the issue so as to avoid Koku repeating his words for emphasis and going overboard in the process.
“That’s where the role of the media comes in…. I would have wished that the Happy FM host would have terminated the interview at that point. Because when the Gbeshe spirit is on politicians across the divide, you ought not goad them on. If you listen to the interview, there was some amount of goading. It gives him the opportunity to go on and on and on. I think that holding no brief for Koku, let’s call for greater media responsibility”, he said.
Inusah Fuseini on the other hand lambasted the police for the manner in which it handled Anyidoho over his comment. For him, the comments from Anyodoho were an excessive exercise of his right to freedom of speech and should have been for that reason handled more appropriately than it was.
“Arresting him is a callous exercise of state authority”, he noted. “If the state is of the view that his comment was potentially treasonable, what they needed to do was not to arrest him but to activate the intelligence gathering system to see what activity Koku could have been engaged that is likely to subvert the constitution, not arrest him”, he added.
Background
Anyidoho had in an interview on Accra-based Happy FM, indicated that President Akufo-Addo will be overthrown just like his father and the late Dr. K. A Busia due to the ratification of the controversial defence cooperation agreement between Ghana and the US.
“There will be a civilian coup d’état. There will be a social revolution. We [NDC] are starting it on Wednesday. The movement is starting on Wednesday. Nana Addo will have sleepless nights. He will suffer diarrhea. He said he wanted to be president, but we will make sure he will be fed up on the seat,’’ he added.
Anyidoho has since been widely condemned for the comment and consequently was arrested by the CID on Tuesday March 27. He was detained for 48 hours and released on Thursday March 29. He is currently on police enquiry bail.
