Information available indicated that the embattled Minority Leader in Parliament, Alban Bagbin, fled the capital at dawn for the safety of his constituency, Nadowli North, in the Upper West Region, to avoid the volleys being fired by the bruised New Patriotic Party (NPP) over the Ivory Coast/Burkina Faso/Bagbin affair.

The Chronicle?s attempt to get Bagbin to confirm or deny the information was unsuccessful. But sources said as soon as Bagbin got wind of the government?s press conference held yesterday, he knew he would be in trouble, as the storm had been gathering since he made what political watchers have described as ?reckless statements?.

At the press conference, Foreign Affairs Minister, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo described the Parliamentary Minority Leader, Mr Alban S.K. Bagbin?s claims that the leaders of Cote d?Ivoire and Burkina Faso have lost confidence in President J.A. Kufour, as irresponsible, saying they were concocted through the imagination of the Minority Leader in a desperate attempt to smear the President.