Desist or we remind you of your past wounds – NDC lawyer on Akufo-Addo’s ‘I won’t hand over power’ comment

Lamtiig Apanga, the Director of Legal Affairs for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Upper East Region, has warned President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

Apanga cautioned the president to refrain from making statements about not handing over power to the NDC, suggesting that such remarks could provoke a significant backlash and force the NDC to remind the President of his own history of electoral defeats.

Speaking in an interview on GHOne TV on May 23, 2024, Apanga criticized President Akufo-Addo’s comments, labeling them as "wishful thinking."

He emphasized that it is not within the President's authority to decide who will succeed him.

“I think that the president is engaging in wishful thinking and he is entitled to that. It is very unfortunate that sometimes a person who has attained the level of president has to carry himself in a manner that would not give the office the respect and dignity that it requires.

"But he decided to throw that away and get into such wishful thinking, then he would invite for himself unfortunate criticism and attacks that he deserves,” he said.

Apanga highlighted that the democratic process determines the country's leadership, not the personal preferences of the incumbent President.

He pointedly noted President Akufo-Addo's past electoral defeats, implying that the President's current stance might lead to unwelcome reminders of his own political struggles.

“It is not for him to decide who he is going to hand over to, the people of Ghana will decide who they want as their next president.

"It doesn’t matter that he has defeated him (Mahama) twice. In fact, even that is very doubtful, but nonetheless, Nana Akufo-Addo lost two or three elections before he became the president.

“Two or three other elections before he became president, and that is just two or three main elections but he had previously lost primaries to John Agyekum Kufuor at Legon and I remember very well.

“So, if he continues this way we will remind him of his old wounds,” he added.

What Akufo-Addo said:

The president recently called on first-time voters to register in the ongoing 2024 Limited Voters' Registration Exercise so that they can vote massively against the Mahama.

According to the president, the NDC flagbearer will destroy all the gains his government has made if he comes into power again.

He, therefore, urged voters to make Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, the flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), his successor so that the gains of his government would be cemented.

“The registration has started; I urge all persons yet to register to do so, your vote is your power.

“I can't hand over to someone I defeated twice and who is not happy with everything I do; he will destroy the work that I have done,” Akufo-Addo is quoted as having said while addressing supporters at a mini rally in Doboro in the Greater Accra Region.

He added, “Vote for Dr Bawumia; I have worked with him for the past seven and a half years, I have confidence in him, and I know he can continue the good work.”

AM/SARA

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