Intelligence picked up by Whatsup News points to a possible hijacking by militarised political vigilantes of the Western Togoland separatist group to unleash mayhem in the Volta Region.
Since last week Friday, the supposed separatist rebels attacked two police stations in the Volta Region, raided the armoury of these police stations and fired indiscriminately at terrified officers on duty. Later, roadblocks were mounted by the group, allegedly to prevent vehicles from breaching their territory.
However, Whatsup New has gathered that the entire operation is a cover-up for a more sinister military-styled operations by agents and highly trained political vigilantes of the Akufo Addo administration whose activities are being blamed on the infamous Western Togoland separatist group led by a feeble octogenarian, Charles Komi Kudzordzi, popularly known as Papavi Hobedetor.
The separatist group today released a statement on its social media platform saying the latest attacks on the State Transport Company (STC) yard in the Volta Region was in no way their handiwork.
“We the frontline defenders of the Rights of the citizens of Western Togoland, the HSGF, and all its various chapters and branches had no hands in the burning of vehicles of the STC in Ho last night. We wish to draw the attention of the general public that the sudden spark of violence in our land is seriously against our working documents.”
We are beginning to have the feeling that some elements probably in the political landscape and looking at the periods in which we are, might be perpetrating violence to smear our peaceful campaign,” the group said.
Indeed, Whatsup News gathered from reliable sources that the ageing Papavi Hobedetor, a teacher by profession, may not be in optimal health and in no way has the military capacity know-how to organise such well-coordinated attacks in the past days in the Volta Region.
A few months ago, CITI TV reported a swoop on a secret military training ground in the heart of the Volta Region where a group the government claimed were associated with Homeland Study Group Foundation (HSGF) or the Western Togoland separatist group turned out to be false, as the 20 young men and women arrested said they had no clue of the HSGF but were secretly recruited to train for an alleged plan to enrol them in the security agencies.
The trainees believed to be associated with the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) claim they were charged some fees to undergo the training.
Already, Whatsup News and other independent-minded media organisations have reported massive secret training of NPP vigilantes all across the country, including the secret filming of De Eye Group of the NPP training at the former Presidential Palace at the Christiansburg Castle in Osu-Accra.
The Akufo Addo government has vehemently denied these secret training, however, in December 31, 2018, a group of NPP party thugs recruited into the National Security by Bryan Acheampong, the then Minister of State for National Security unleashed lethal attacks on unarmed voters as the NDC contested the NPP for the vacant parliamentary seat at the Ayawaso West-Wuogon Constituency.
The blatant violence forced the government to institute a commission of enquiry led by Justice Emile Short. However, the recommendations of the Short Commission was mostly ignored by the Akufo Addo administration.
For instance, it recommended the disbanding of the thugs absorbed into the National Security and to reprimand key security officers and authorities for their complicity in the violence.
Meanwhile, several sceptics suspect the violence in the Volta Region is either to distract from the monumental mess created by the Electoral Commission (EC) on the new voters’ register or an attempt to cause insecurity in the Volta Region to prevent voters from freely participating in the December general elections because the Volta Region is the main political stronghold of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Policy think-tank Alliance for Social Equity and Public Accountability (ASEPA). In a statement released today, ASEPA says it smells foul play, saying it is “almost impossible to dissociate the complicity of the ruling NPP Government from what is happening in Volta today.”
The NDC has also made similar accusations against the governing party.
Curiously, Whatsup News gathered that some of the supposed separatists were actually mercenaries from Togo. Residents in the Volta Region-in areas under the catchment of Western Togoland have pointed out the Togo/Benin Ewe accent of the recently arrested individuals reportedly involved in Friday’s mayhem.