In the wake of the chaos at the 12th-anniversary commemoration ceremony on July 24, 2024, the family of the late Ghanaian president, Professor John Evans Fiifi Atta Mills, has announced potential legal action against Samuel Koku Anyidoho, the former Deputy General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress and a close associate of the late president.
The wreath-laying ceremony at Asomdwee Park, organized by the late president’s family and the National Democratic Congress (NDC), descended into disorder when Koku Anyidoho exceeded his allotted time.
In an interview with JoyNews, Samuel Atta Mills, the late president’s brother, claimed that Koku Anyidoho feels emboldened to act because he has the state’s backing.
He also cautioned that the NPP government, which he accuses of protecting and enabling Koku Anyidoho, will not remain in power indefinitely.
“When they advise you and you don’t listen, this is what happens. But Koku Anyidoho should know that hiding behind political power has an expiration date.
“A day will come when the political power he is hiding behind will expire,” he said on Wednesday.
“You’re not related to this man, and anybody could come here and celebrate him. He [Atta Mills] is for the country, so why would you want to clash with us? And as a coward as he is, he ran away and left the people here – the fake family over here.
“… We didn’t intimidate anybody, but when persuasion fails, force is applied. Indeed, we are at Asomdwee Park, but when we talk to you and you don’t understand, sometimes a little bit of encouragement will make you move,” he said.
Mercy Araba Ahema Quarshie, a sister of the late president, said that the family has become fed up with Koku Anyidoho’s shenanigans and will take him on.
She protested that Koku Anyidoho has no blood relation with the late president and therefore lacks the legitimacy to do the things he is doing.
“People with Koku Anyidoho, pretending to be the real relatives of Atta Mills. That is never true. We don’t know them from anywhere, and they were here. He has schooled them, telling them that the rest of us are paternal brothers and sisters and they are the real Atta Mills family.
“It was so disgusting to find an 80-year-old woman, pouring libation and hitting her thigh, saying that she gave birth to Atta Mills. I was wondering if she gave birth as a baby.”
“I want to make it clear to everyone that Koku Anyidoho has stepped on the wrong foot by tampering with our brother’s grave without our knowledge. That is totally unacceptable, and now we are going to deal with him because it is a taboo in our family to do that.”