Afoko agitated against the union government idea during the regime of General Ignatius Kutu Acheampong in the 1970s as well as against the overthrow of Dr. Hilla Limann by J.J. Rawlings in the 1980s.
He was jailed by the PNDC for his agitations but managed to escape to the United Kingdom where he stayed in exile for a number of years before returning to Ghana in 2000.
[citation needed] During the 2007 contest to select NPP's candidate for the Ghanaian Presidency, Afoko was ushered out of NPP congress grounds in the University of Ghana by the police after he was attacked by others and accused ally of Alan Kyeremanteng, one of the contestants and was further accused of sharing money to delegates.
Subsequent to his suspension, the party's general secretary, Kwabena Agyapong, as well as one vice chairman, Sammy Crabbe, were also suspended through a similar process.
[8] Calls for Paul Afoko and the General Secretary to be pushed out of the party, which started before the murder however continued to grow.