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Members of the Friends of Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings (FONKAR), a splinter group in the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) drumming up support for the wife of the party�s founder, have stated that they are not the least perturbed about the series of intimidation and underhand dealings being employed by the Mills campaign team to frustrate their efforts to get Mrs Rawlings to lead the party. The group said they had resolved to pursue their agenda but would not rule out facing the Mills boys �boot-for-boot� if they attempted anything sinister. They said they were determined to rally support for Mrs Rawlings to become the NDC�s flagbearer come July 8-10, 2011, when the party goes to congress in Sunyani. The leadership of the group said they would not sit in laxity for members of the Mills campaign team and their cohort to cow them. Speaking at a well-attended press conference in Accra yesterday, Deputy Communications Director of FONKAR Saint Osei specifically mentioned the names of Presidential aides, Koku Anyidoho and Nii Lantey Vanderpuye and their pro-NDC media contacts as the people trying to discredit FONKAR as a group. Saint Osei said, �The Mills team is determined to use all and any crude means to cast a slur on our candidate, Nana Konadu and all who support and endorse her bid for the flagbearership of the NDC,� citing the recent incident that took place at Asempa FM. On Tuesday, May 17, 2011, Deputy Information Minister Baba Jamal was said to have stormed the studios of Asempa FM in Accra, with some persons the group described as unscrupulous, to pose as founders of FONKAR, claiming to have defected to the Mills camp. Some members of the group, who happened to be listening at the time, went to the studio to expose the so-called disgruntled FONKAR members. Apart from that, the Konadu boys claimed to also be aware of a series of calculated attempts by certain personalities at the presidency and government who were applying intimidating tactics towards its members, citing how a mayor allegedly hired thugs to assault one of its leading members, Abdul Rashid Alhassan, at a programme on Ash FM in Kumasi. They also cited an alleged attempt by the BNI to intimidate coordinators of Konadu�s campaign in the Upper West, Volta and Western regions. The group considered some of these intimidation tactics as a deliberate attempt to create confusion and discredit Mrs Rawlings. They also claimed to be well-aware of a number of government appointees, led by P.V Obeng, Kwame Peprah, Cecelia Johnson, E.T Mensah, Sylvester Mensah and others he described as �misguided elements�, who were jockeying the length and breadth of the country distributing money to delegates and potential delegates to woo them into voting for President Mills, whilst maligning their choice of candidate, Nana Konadu. FONKAR believed, �The blatant use of executive power to induce, intimidate and lure delegates and other party supporters to vote against their conscience in the forthcoming presidential primary is despicable, shameful, cowardly, irresponsible and a very bad example to the youth of today and generations to come.� It has therefore asked delegates and supporters in the regions, constituencies, towns, villages and hamlets to stand strong and further urged them not to fall victim to lies, financial and material promises. The group called on the rank and file of the NDC to be wary of some journalists including Kwesi Pratt Jnr of The Insight newspaper, Alhaji Bature of Al-Hajj newspaper, Raymond Archer of The Enquirer, Ben Ephson of The Daily Dispatch and the Informer newspaper whom they accused of using their media outlets to cause mischief and propagate lies against Mrs Rawlings. �There is no doubt that these elements harbour a serious hatred and have a hidden agenda against the former first family and will do anything to tamper with the foundation of the NDC and the founder�s legacy,� they said, emphasising that �it is embarrassing that in a desperate bid to cling to power, persons within the Mills apparatus are employing such appalling tactics�.