A presidential hopeful from the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Kwabena Agyapong, has provided his account of the events that allegedly led to the removal of the former national chairman of the party, Paul Afoko, in 2015.

According to Agyapong, the root cause of Paul Afoko's removal was the pressure exerted by certain party members, including President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who was then a contender for the party's flagbearer position, for early presidential primaries.

During an interview on Neat FM on June 14, 2023, Agyapong further explained that once the issue of early primaries was resolved, confusion arose regarding the disbursement of funds to support the party's grassroots during the parliamentary primaries.

This confusion ultimately led some individuals to call for Afoko's suspension.

“This was what lead to people calling for his suspension. They said he was the one behind someone who was creating confusion about the money. But I said that he had done nothing wrong and that for the chairman of the party to be suspended, it must be for something very drastic.

“All of a sudden there was a petition for his suspension which was brought by two northerners, his own people. The petition did not even follow the required root. It was not sent to the party’s headquarters, according to our own rules and regulations, it went straight to the disciplinary committee,” he said in Twi.

He added that the committee invited Paul Afoko but he refused their invitation because they had no power to invite him without going through the proper channel.

But the committee went ahead to recommend that he should be suspended as they (the leaders of the party) were about to attend their international conferences aboard.

“We finished one of the conferences and I went to visit my wife at Leicester after which I was to meet candidate Akufo-Addo at London so we would travel to Washington. Then all of a sudden, I was told that there was an emergency executive committee meeting and that the chairman has been suspended indefinitely,” he said.

“I called Paul and asked him when he authorised the meeting but he also did not know about it. And I said ‘What, a meeting can be conveyed with you (Afoko - the chairman), without the general secretary. That is improper, irregularly and so it cannot stand,” he said.

Kwabena Agyapong, who was been the general secretary of the NPP, said that after the news of Afoko’s improper removal, he told Akufo-Addo that he could not continue with him and left him in London.