John Dumelo, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) parliamentary candidate for Ayawaso West Wuogon, has apologized for his accusation that Lydia Seyram Alhassan, the member of parliament for the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), killed her husband in order to seize power.
Dumelo said something provocative on TV3’s Community Watch program, implying that Lydia may have had something to do with her husband’s death in order to keep her seat as an MP.
During his response, he was interrupted by NPP supporters yelling about the V8 affair.
He stated, “I want to say something. I can see their supporters have been mentioning V8, V8, V8. If that is the case, then it is also fair to say that maybe Lydia is the one who killed her husband to become MP. That is it, because if they want to go that tangent, I can also go the same tangent. If they want to go that tangent, I will go the same tangent because this time around, it is boot for boot.”
This comment sparked outrage, particularly on social media platform X, where users heavily criticised him.
In response to the backlash, Dumelo took to X to apologise and retract his statement, saying, “I apologise and retract the comments I made earlier today on TV3.”
Following the demise of Emmanuel Kwabena Kyeremanteng Agyarko in 2018, Alhassan took over as her spouse. However, there have been severe accusations that his death was planned.
With 68.80% of the valid votes cast, she won the 2019 Ayawaso West by-election. The other contenders, Kwasi Delali Brempong of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), William Kofi Dowokpor of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP), and Clement Boadi of the Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG), received 30.52 percent, 0.58 percent, and 0.10 percent, respectively.
She successfully ran for the New Patriotic Party ticket in the 2020 general elections, defeating NDC contender and Ghanaian star John Dumelo with 9,851 of the valid votes cast.
