MORE PAY HOMAGE TO NANA

 WR NPP Executives with Akufo-Addo

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Thursday, September 12, 2012

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, New Patriotic Party (NPP) presidential candidate in the 2012 can yesterday received another batch of sympathizers mainly NPP at his Nima residence in Accra.

Since August 30, a day after the Supreme Court dismissed the Akufo-Addo-led petition, people from all walks of life have been calling on him to commend him for the way and manner he conducted himself before, during and after the verdict.

He has already said that even though he did not entirely agree with the court, he was accepting the verdict in the interest of peace, unity and national development.

Personalities including former presidents, diplomats, political and religious leaders, and virtually all NPP national, regional, constituency executives as well as other interest groups within the party have called on him.

In fact, the Nima residence of the NPP stalwart has become more or less a tourist attraction where people visit on a daily basis.

VR NPP executives with Akufo-Addo

Following the dismissal of the landmark election petition by the Supreme Court, the debate about who should lead the NPP has become intense.

Nana Akufo-Addo who together with his running mate, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and NPP Chairman Jake Otanka Obetsebi-Lamptey, filed the petition, has said he is taking a break and would decide his political future later.

However, calls on the NPP stalwart who, many including international bodies, have hailed for the way and manner he conducted himself during the political stalemate, continue to grow.

Almost all the pro-NPP group that have called on him have used the occasion to urge him to contest again in 2016.

Yesterday, the first group pay a visit was market women from the Ablekuma sub-Metro in Accra who encouraged him to consider returning to leading the NPP.

Then came a group calling itself Free Education and Prayer Group from Kumasi who urged the NPP to back Nana Akufo-Addo to go again in 2016 to enable the party to win power and actualize the free education dream.

Agona Swedru NPP women organizers with Akufo-Addo

In response, Nana Akufo-Addo said “we were determined to fulfill the free SHS promise to Ghanaians so that everybody particularly the poor could benefit but things did not go as planned.”

“We still have high hopes and believe that our party will get the chance to implement this pro-poor policy. We all know that without education for our young ones, the country’s future would be in jeopardy.”

He said “everybody in Ghana today believes the NPP is the ideal party to spearhead the development of the country and all we need to do is to believe that we can make it in 2016.”

Another groups calling itself Northern Liberals also called on him to commend him highly for accepting the verdict without any hesitation.

Greater Accra NPP women organizers with Akufo-Addo

Mohammed Zakaria, spokesperson for the group described Nana Akufo-Addo as ‘Godsent” and said they were there to help him to lead NPP back to power.

Nana Akufo-Addo responded that it was refreshing for everyone to hear that there were different groups that continued to believe in the ideals of the NPP.

“We have the capacity to change things in Ghana and we know we are capable of spearheading Ghana’s development agenda. All we need is to unite and work hard to recapture power.”

Yoruba Caucus of the NPP also paid a courtesy call and pledged their unflinching support for the party.

Northern Liberals with Akufo-Addo

The Western Region NPP lead by their Chairman Nana Owusu Ankomah and its Women’s Organizer Abena Kwalla, together with some of the executives in the various constituencies also called on Nana Akufo-Addo.

Women Orginizer’s within Agona Swedru were also there to greet Nana Akufo-Addo and his team.

Finally, some regional and constituency executives from the Volta Region led by Joseph K. Nayan, a former MP were also at the Nima residence.

The visit of the Volta executives was special in the sense that they treated the audience with a local borborbor music and dance.

Nana Akufo-Addo kept reminding them of the need to unite and forge ahead as one body ready to snatch power from their opponents.

Yoruba Caucus of NPP with Akufo-Addo

He said “I am happy we have gone through the electoral dispute process without any upheaval and we will continue to remain committed to the growth of democracy.”

Nana Akufo-Addo said that it was refreshing that Ghana has embraced the idea of democracy adding “to that extent I am very proud to be Ghanaian.”

He said “in a legal battle, you either win or lose and in this case we lost although we do not agree fully with the court.”

Executives of NUGS with Akufo-Addo

He said it was the National Executive Council of the party that sanctioned the decision to go to court and once everything was over, the party should continue to remain united to be able put up a solid performance in the years to come.

“We have gone through a lot as a party and this decision of the court should never discourage us. Rather, it should serve as a challenge for us to improve on how we approach future elections.”