If Mugabe is president, why can't Akufo-Addo – Appiah Ofori

Former Member of Parliament for Asikuma Odobeng Brakwa, Paul Collins Appiah Ofori has backed calls for the flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Akufo-Addo, to lead the party in the 2016 general elections.

He said Nana Addo "should not dream of retiring from politics [because] he is the man Ghanaians are yearning for in 2016".

Appiah Ofori was speaking on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen programme on Tuesday.

Akufo-Addo who is on a political break after conceding defeat in the just ended presidential election petition has said he would announce his future political plans later.

Even before Nana announces his political plans, some leading members in the NPP led by General Secretary, Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, are already rooting for his candidature. Sir John as he is popularly called, maintains that Nana Akufo-Addo will be Ghana’s president in 2016.

However, some political pundits are of the view that the NPP will be in perpetual opposition if Nana Addo who turns 72 in 2016 becomes flagbearer.

They argue that Nana Addo who lost to the late John Atta Mills and President John Mahama in 2008 and 2012 elections respectively, cannot deliver victory for the party.

But PC Appiah Ofori on Ekosii Sen said it is "senseless" for anyone to argue that Nana Akufo-Addo will be too old for the presidency in 2016.

According to him, if 90-year-old Robert Mugabe is President of Zimbabwe, why not Akufo-Addo who would be only 72 in 2016.

The former Asikuma Odobeng Brakwa MP noted that but for the corruption at the Electoral Commission in 2012, Nana would have been president and thus cannot be said to be a "bad luck" for the NPP.

He observed that it will be politically suicidal for the NPP to change a winning team.

PC Appiah Ofori added that if the NPP wishes to make Akufo-Addo its presidential candidate in 2016, he [Nana] has no other choice than to accept.

"Nana is a winnable candidate and I am convinced he stands a great chance of winning in 2016. He will get more sympathy votes in 2016 and I will support him".