By Gifty Boateng
The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) is barely a year out of power, but former Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia is already plotting a return – and his foot soldiers are hunting for social media mercenaries to do the dirty job.
But one blogger has not only rejected the offer. He has exposed it.
Amaro Shakur, a Kumasi-based social media influencer with a growing following, dropped a bombshell this week: he was personally recruited by Kwaku Osei Korankye-Asiedu, aka KOKA, one of Bawumia’s most aggressive loyalists, to help bring the NPP back to power in 2028.
The offer? Loans, cars, lawyers, and a seat at Bawumia’s table.
Shakur’s response? He is not interested – and he has the audio to prove it.
‘They want to buy us’
In an interview with Accra-based Radio Gold, Shakur gave a blow-by-blow account of the phone call that has shaken the opposition camp.
“An unknown number called me. When I picked, the person said, ‘I am KOKA’,” Shakur recounted.
According to the blogger, KOKA began by praising his work, saying he had been monitoring him on social media. Then came the pitch: “They want me to go with them to visit Dr Bawumia.”
Shakur said he asked point-blank: “You want me to visit Bawumia for what?”
KOKA’s reply, he claimed, was a shopping list of inducements. “He said when the NPP comes to power, we will allocate a lot of goodies for you bloggers – loans, buy cars, get you lawyers and so on.”
But Shakur was unmoved. His reason? “KOKA has no credibility.”
Shakur, who says he started blogging when the NPP was still in office, recalled that the party then took issue with him, accusing him of defaming their government.
“So is it now that they need my service?” he asked, dripping with sarcasm.
He warned fellow bloggers not to fall for KOKA’s antics, insisting that the man has no real influence. “He has nothing to offer,” Shakur said flatly.
He also revealed that he is not the only one KOKA has approached. “They have called a lot of bloggers. They have a platform they operate from.”
But Shakur says he made his position clear: “I am not that type of person. I told him I have recorded the conversation. I have the tape.”
In a twist that will please no political party, Shakur also turned his gun on the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC). Despite admitting that he has received a new car from Ibrahim Mahama, the President’s younger brother, Shakur complained that the NDC has not recognised his work enough.
“I still need support to travel to the hinterlands to expose their challenges,” he said.
But his core message remained defiant: he is not for sale – at least not on KOKA’s terms.
After NPP sympathisers dared him to produce evidence, claiming he has been paid by the NDC to wage war on the opposition, Shakur accepted the challenge.
“NPP people are calling me to release the audio because they claim NDC has paid me to do propaganda against their party. The audio will drop soon. Thank you,” he posted on Facebook.
The New Republic has since intercepted the alleged audio conversation. In the excerpt, KOKA is heard appealing to Shakur to help connect him with other bloggers, even after Shakur refused to personally join the Bawumia campaign.
“Help me connect with some bloggers – the ones you can recommend,” KOKA pleads in the recording.
Shakur’s reply is cold: “Most bloggers in Ghana – I don’t even have their contacts because of the kind of work I do.”
Bawumia’s camp has not officially responded. But the leaked audio, if authentic, threatens to embarrass the former vice president just as he tries to unite a fractured NPP after a bruising primary.
For Shakur, the message is clear: you cannot ignore bloggers when you are in power, then come begging when you are out.
And he is not about to forget.