The National Democratic Congress’ Victor Adawudu has joined rising calls urging President John Dramani Mahama to publicly address the violent scenes that marred the Ablekuma North parliamentary rerun.
Speaking in response to the incident that saw former Minister of Fisheries Mavis Hawa Koomson assaulted at a polling station, Adawudu stated that Ghana’s current leadership must rise above political comparisons and confront the incident with clarity and accountability.
“The hypocrisy that comes with this is a lot,” he said, admitting that per precedent, the NPP did not have the moral ground to demand a statement from the president, but emphasized that the presidency must not stay silent simply because past governments failed to act when similar situations occurred.
“Yes it should be condemned, even though she started with the spray when they wanted to demobilize her – she was maltreated and manhandled,” he said, stressing that regardless of the trigger, leadership requires moral responsibility.
“Yes, I will agree with them to call on the president because this is a president that we have elected – we know he’s peaceful, he’s a unifier, he’s somebody who binds the people together and he stands tall when it comes to this”
Victor Adawudu, NDC Legal Team Member
Lawyer Adawudu, pointed out that justifying silence with past inaction sets a dangerous precedent, arguing that national leadership cannot operate on partisan tit-for-tat logic. He connected the electoral victory of the NDC to public disillusionment with such patterns by the erstwhile government.
“I’m sure that the people realized all that was happening and said that “no”, we cannot continue this way, we are not going in the right direction, we need to go in the opposite direction”
Victor Adawudu, NDC Legal Team Member
Commenting on the performance of law enforcement at the chaotic scene, Adawudu expressed concern that security was clearly outnumbered and underprepared to handle the kind of chaos that broke in the course of the election exercise.
“We were told by the police that there will be no violence, they will provide security and all that, but look at what we saw,” he said, referencing police claims ahead of the polls and questioning the credibility of security assurances.
Beyond crowd control, he called out individual misconduct with regards to the senior police officer who slapped a reporter during the Ablekuma North rerun. “The police have questions to answer,” Adawudu declared.
Koomson’s Violence Brand
Victor Adawudu also reflected on Hawa Koomson’s role in the violence, noting that political figures must read the room and act prudently in tense environments. According to him, the Unfortunate incident could have been prevented by the victim.
“It was unfortunate to see. But however if you look at the videos, when she got there and the people started protesting that we don’t want you at the polling station, intelligence would have told her that no, I have to leave because of the tension of the people over there”
Victor Adawudu, NDC Legal Team Member
According to him, her presence aggravated the situation, particularly her use of what was allegedly pepper spray on the constituents who had come to escort her out of the polling station premises.
“Why would you even go to a polling station holding pepper spray?” he asked, Adawudu questioned the motive. When told the substance may have been used in self-defense, he pushed back. “That is what aggravated the whole issue. If she hadn’t, things might have been different.”
While maintaining that no one deserves assault, Adawudu highlighted how branding and perception shape public responses, using the “unfortunate” incident as a case in point.
“I’ve always said that if you live by the sword, you might die by the sword. The optics and the brand, ‘Mavis Hawa Koomson’ is associated with violence, which may not be good for her”
Victor Adawudu, NDC Legal Team Member
Despite citing Hawa Koomson’s past record and conduct as a possible catalyst for her assault, he acknowledged that such perceptions may not always reflect the true character of the individual, but insisted that optics are crucial in public life.
Afterall, not every NPP official at the grounds was attacked by the angry crowd, he argued and concluded that the situation called for better judgment. However, with its occurrence in hindsight, the president of the Republic must speak to it, for the prevalence of morality and political sanity.
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