Former president John Dramani Mahama has rejected claims that the National Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, sought to incite violence against the Peace Council Chair, Rev. Prof Emmanuel Asante.

According to him, what the embattled NDC Chairman did was to call on supporters of the party to criticise Rev. Asante.

Mr. Ampofo has been under fire after an audio attributed to him leaked in the media.

Mahama believes Rev. Asante was unfair when he criticised his comments on the Ayawaso West Wuogon violence but failed to do same to the brutalities that nearly marred the by-election.

“If you condemned the violence and then you commented on what the former President said, that would be acceptable. So in the circumstances, for our chairman who had witnessed the violence… anybody who saw that will be traumatized,” the NDC flagbearer said while speaking at the Perez Chapel in Accra on Sunday.

“And so if a few days after he was talking and saying we should attack the Peace Council Chairman, he didn’t mean we should go and beat the Peace Council Chairman, he meant we should criticize him,” Mr. Mahama sought to justify the comments of the NDC Chairman.

The content of the leaked tape has drawn widespread criticism from a section of the public, with many condemning him.

In the audio, he is heard saying many things, including urging verbal attacks on the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Jean Mensa.

Mr. Ampofo is also heard saying that party communicators are free to insult the Peace Council Chairman.

Meanwhile, Mahama on Saturday, March 2, 2019 called on members of the NDC to disregard the leaked tape, insisting it is a propaganda tool by the ruling NPP.

He urged that the party remains focused ahead of the 2020 general elections.

“Our opponents are good at propaganda and they will come up from time to time with things to distract us. This issue of a [leaked] tape is just a distraction. Dismiss it with the contempt it deserves. Let us focus. Our message must be to the Ghanaian people,” Mahama noted during NDC's unity walk.