To the many unsuspecting supporters of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) already rejoicing a possible third term bid for Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, and have begun relishing how paradise Ghana will be under his presidency, the news is that the 2016 presidential ballot paper may contain the name of the twice defeated presidential candidate only on premeditated condition.
Clever as Nana Akufo-Addo is, his resolute henchmen, hell bent on maintaining his influence in the party and determined to install him as the de facto leader whose dictates must be the fulcrum around which the NPP revolves, have decided to gamble with his childhood dream of becoming president of Ghana at-all-cost, The Al-Hajj can report.
Determined to ignore all wise counseling from his physicians, close family, friends and associates, it is becoming obvious Nana Akufo-Addo is bent on contesting the party’s primaries to select flag bearer at the next congress.
Nana Akufo-Addo’s presidential candidature in the 2016 elections, The Al-Hajj has picked up would be predicated on two legs; the availability of resources from now to the time of start of 2016 campaign, and the outlook of the Mahama administration.
Party insiders say if Nana Akufo-Addo is able to harvest enough resources between his anticipated declaration date, and election time in 2016; and he is also convinced the Mahama-led administration has performed poorly for which reason his chances of becoming president is bright; he would by all means damned the consequences to contest the 2016 presidential elections with Dr. Bawumia as his running mate.
However, in the event any one or the two conditions go against him, and being the most popular person in the NPP today, he would nevertheless, contest the party’s flag bearer, but immediately after winning name Dr. Bawumia as his running mate only to cede the flag bearer position to him some eight months to the 2016 general election.
According to our usual reliable sources within the party, few weeks before the filing of official nomination with the Electoral Commission, Nana Akufo-Addo is expected to announce his withdrawal from the 2016 presidential polls, citing advice from his doctors, during which time the NPP would be constraint by time going for another congress and therefore, would be compelled to endorse his nominated running mate, Dr Bawumia as its 2016 presidential candidate who will in turn name Mr Joe Ghartey, the MP for Esekado-Ketan and Second Deputy Speaker as his vice presidential candidate.
On the other hand, in the unlikely event all two conditions go in his favour, Nana Akufo-Addo would then be emboldened to contest the 2016 presidential elections with Dr. Bawumia as usual, his running mate.
However, the NPP veteran politician who would be marking his 73rd birthday two months after been sworn into office as president on Jan 7, 2017, should he eventually be declared the winner of the 2016 polls; is expected to relinquish his new status before his 75th birthday to allow his vice, Bawumia take over.
Intelligence intercepted by The Al-Hajj (both home and abroad) indicate that though, before leaving the UK, Nana Akufo-Addo had heeded to his nuclear family and doctors’ advice not to risk his life contesting the 2016 presidential election against a much younger and energetic President John Dramani Mahama, the ‘all-die-be-die’ man is said to have changed his mind on arrival in Ghana, even if temporarily.
Akufo-Addo’s resolve to ‘roll a red’ carpet for his twice failed political partner to ascend to the highest office of the land possibly after the 2016 polls is reportedly born out of his love and faith in Dr. Mahamudu Bawumi3a to lead Ghana.
At the same time, our sources revealed that it is also to position the ‘young man’ for the 2020 elections should all the permutations not work out in 2016.
The former Foreign Affairs Minister under the Kufuor regime, a source told The Al-Hajj is taking a cue from the late President Mills, who for the love he had for the then John Mahama was compelled under the circumstance to contest the 2008 elections even when he was not in the best of health conditions in order to smoothen the path for his protégé, President John Mahama
Like his university mate Atta Mills, Nana Akufo-Addo, highly convinced by results of a poll said to have been conducted to test Dr Bawumia’s popularity within the New Patriotic Party, which results indicated that Bawumia’s chances of beating any potential flag bearer aspirants in the party’s internal contest is very slim, and “just as Jesus Christ sacrificed his life to save mankind, Nana has vowed to risk his advancing age and not-too-good health to engage in another tortuous political theatrics, to ensure his heir apparent, Bawumia is installed”, a source close to the NPP strong man revealed.
It has been said that if the late Candidate Mills had decided to step down as NDC flag bearer (when his health began to fade) in the middle of the 2008 political battle, party stalwarts would have opposed any attempt at John Mahama replacing him and would have called for emergency congress to elect another flag bearer in which case then vice presidential candidate Mahama could have lost out.
It is also on record that long before his demise on the throne, the late President Mills, in order to validate his love and wish for his protégé Mahama, warned ministers at two sessions of cabinet that after him, no one should attempt contesting his vice President.
And in like manner, Nana Akufo-Addo is also said to have vowed to protect and shepherd Dr Bawumia to the extent that if he (Nana Akufo-Addo) does not become President, he would fight for his twice running mate to get the keys to the flag staff house.
One other factor that may eventually push down Nana Akufo-Addo to reconsider his decision to contest the 2016 presidential elections, according to many political pundits is the free Senior High School policy he had wanted to use to convince Ghanaians which will now be implemented by President Mahama in the 2015/2016 academic year.
And this is said to have rendered the NPP twice defeated flag bearer ‘campaign message-less’ in 2016.
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