A 35-year-Old Nicholas Teye who appeared on a billboard for the New Patriotic Party during the 2020 general election campaign says his life is under serious threat.
Nicholas Teye’s photo was used for an election campaign advert with the inscription “Remember me. My livelihood depends on your vote”
The 35-year-old is a beneficiary of the government’s flagship programme Nations Builders Corps, NABCO, where he teaches.
Speaking to TV3 in an interview, Nicholas stated that people blame him for the current economic hardship facing Ghanaians following his campaign for the governing party.
The Senior Secondary School teacher stated that he had to even disguise himself by wearing a nose mask and a cap whenever he wants to go out of his home for fear of being noticed and attacked.
“My major challenge is the threat. So, any time I have to go out I have to put on a nose mask and sometimes a cap”.
“Sometimes, I stay in the room, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday without going out because I am afraid if I step out, I don’t know what will happen to me.
The moment they see you they are angry, and they want to beat you because you are part of the reasons why they are suffering. Sometimes they will call you and threaten you.
“Sometimes my wife will tell me to take an uber to where I am going if I have the money”, Teye narrated.
However, the SHS teacher indicated that he was not told his photo will be used for a political campaign billboard.
According to him, he was paid just GH¢300 for the advert.
Narrating why his face was on a campaign billboard for the governing party, Nicholas Teye, said as a NABCO beneficiary, he was told that their photos were being used for calendars and magazines and there was a reward of GHC ¢300 attached to it.
He also noted that before the GH¢300 was given to him, he had to sign an undertaken that stated that he has allowed his photo to be used for the NPP 2020 campaign, something that was not made clear to him earlier.
“I was very angry when I read the notice because I told them they should have informed me earlier before snapping the photo, so I did not sign, and I left.
“When I got home, my wife and the woman who helped me with funds to pay for the NABCO training said I should go for the money. I later went and signed for the GH¢300” Nicholas Teye stressed.
Meanwhile, Roman Boakye Gyinae, Creative Chief and Director of Strategy at Riverblade Intuition, the company responsible for the campaign advert said, a simulated design of the billboard adverts was shown to him repeatedly during the photo shoot to get his expression and acting.
Also, the intended purpose for his photos were expressly stated in the release form he signed before the shoot began”.
According to Boakye Gyinae, Nicholas was one of 31 people contacted for the photoshoots and were told in clear terms what it was going to be used for, contrary to his claim that he was not informed.
Mr Boakye Gyinae said Nicholas may be “deliberately lying or he has genuinely forgotten the details over time” revealing that he was not paid Ghs300.
Nicholas and the 31 others most of whom were not lucky to have their pictures selected received Ghs500 each as well as transportation of Ghs50 each. Mr Boakye Gyinae added.