Hearts of Oak owner Togbe Afede has jumped to an extraordinary defence of two of his under-fire protégé Vincent Sowah Odotei and Alhaji Brimah Moro following recent scathing attack from the club's angry supporters - saying he is not "stupid" to invest heavily in the club and use the 'wrong people'.
In a no hold barred defence of the two board members, the major shareholder of the club underscored the 'importance" of the duo to the drive and success of the Ghanaian giants.
The former African champions have been in the news for all the wrong reasons since their shocking elimination from the CAF Confederation Cup - losing to Malian side AS Real Bamako.
The two board members have been at the receiving end of incessant criticism with fans escalating their anger by holding them to hostage after their exit from the Africa inter-club competition at the Accra Sports Stadium on Sunday.
The pair had to be barricaded inside the stadium as fans went on rampage outside, in the aftermath of the game.
It took the intervention of the Counter Terrorism Unit of the Ghana Police Service to whisk them away from the marauding irate fans.
But that was not without drama after fans deflated the car tyres of politician Vincent Sowah Odotei in massive protest over his perceived role in the sacking of coach Samuel Boadu.
However, Hearts owner and majority shareholder Togbe Afede, has jumped to the defence of the duo, insisting they are the right men for the job.
"Someone who is not a regular employee. Someone who is not on salary. As a chief, all the business activities that I have is having people work for the community selflessly and without expectation of remuneration," the revered chief told the media on Wednesday.
"Here I have somebody doing the business activity, Accra Hearts of Oak, without remuneration and spending all his time. Meanwhile, he has his own business to run.
"Sometimes I am amazed by the level of commitment of these people, and trust me the successes of 2021 and 2022 on the pitch, what we are doing at Pobiman, the commercial centre, support liaison office and the new head office building will never have been possible without the support of this two gentlemen."
"That needs to be told in no uncertain terms. Why would anybody think that, excuse me to say, I am stupid that I will be investing those amounts of money and use the wrong people. Why would anybody think like that? he quizzed
"If I cannot trust them they won’t be part of what we are doing so intimately. If they are not hardworking, we would not have achieved what we have achieved. These people sit down negotiating with players from morning till night.
"That’s the reality. I have not been to the bank for a very longtime but I can picture what is happening there because of the videos he [Akanbi] sends to me."
Hearts have flattered to deceive since the start of the season with a purple patchy display which has angered their teeming fans.
While critics pointed fingers at former coach Boadu for the side's downward spiral, there are many who also believe and consistently claim that both Odotei and Akanbi set him up to fail.
Hearts of Oak have had a poor start to the season, resulting in an early exit from the CAF competition, where they had hoped to reach the group stage.
In the suspended the Ghana Premier League, they are in the bottom half following two draws and a defeat in three games.