Kufuor Warns Akufo-Addo

Council of Elders of the New Patriotic Party seem set to throw a monkey wrench into what they describe as needless and image smearing moves by the defeated presidential candidate of the party, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s refusal to concede defeat in the just ended election that saw President John Mahama as winner.

Credible reports gathered by the Al-Hajj newspaper reveal that, members of the Council of Elders of the NPP through former President John Kufuor summoned Nana Akufo-Addo at the Airport West residence of the former President on Monday, December 24, 2012 to discuss ways to forestall further public embarrassment been caused the party as a result of his refusal not to accept last Dec 7 internationally recognized election.

Former president Kufuor, according to a credible source bluntly told the defeated presidential candidate that his posturing which has led to violent attacks on innocent persons including journalists at Kwame Nkrumah Circle, Makola, Madina and other places was embarrassing to the NPP and might affect its fortunes at the 2016 presidential and parliamentary elections.

In the wake of this cogent observation, the source noted that former President Kufuor in the strongest of terms issued an intrepid warning to Nana Akufo-Addo to act as a true democrat by accepting the outcome of the election and go ahead to congratulate the President-elect John Mahama.

The Al-Hajj gathered that despite this wise counsel, the twice defeated presidential aspirant seems to be stroking his ego by ignoring the advice of the party elders and former president Kufuor, who himself have lost election on two occasions.

Sources close to the Council of Elders of the NPP revealed that there have been several calls on Nana Akufo-Addo to back down his intention of contesting the results at the highest court of the land, but he has poured cold water on all those advise.

The NPP defeated presidential candidate is expected to storm the Supreme Court today to officially commence a legal process to challenge electoral results declared by the Electoral Commissioner, Afari Djan which place John Dramani Mahama as winner.

The Al-Hajj learnt that members of the NPP’s highest decision making body apart from Congress, have been gravely worried about the irreparable damage Nana Akufo-Addo’s actions was and is going to cause the party and as a result the elders have given him some time to voluntarily do the honorable thing desired of any true democrat, concede, failure of which, according to a very dependable source, they (elders) may be obliged to issue a statement on his behalf and the party; conceding defeat and congratulate the President, John Mahama.

“There is the urgent need for wise men in the party to save the image of the party from been drag into the mud…the party is not the property of anybody, and as such nobody can lay ownership to it…our forefathers labored to build it for us and we can’t allow the selfish ego of one single person to have its image dented with things we don’t believe in…it is hard time we call a spade a spade, we’ve lost the election and we must accept it as such and get back to the drawing board to unravel what went wrong,” a source within the NPP revealed.

According to the source, ex-President Kufuor could not fathom why Nana Akufo-Addo could accept defeat even in the face of some difficulties in 2008 when he lost by just forty thousand votes, but was unwilling to throw in the towel this time round with the margin of over 325, 000 votes.

He noted that, though the grey hair men in the NPP agree that it falls within the constitutional right for anybody to seek redress in court over alleged discrepancies in electoral results, especially when there is overwhelming evidence of fraud, serious caution must be taken in carrying out such an exercise, as it could easily be misconstrued by the larger populace as moves to create constitutional crisis and to scuttle the peace of the country.

A senior member of the party present but who pleaded anonymity also told The Al-Hajj that the NPP elders are of the view that though, Nana Akufo-Addo may have some evidence to prove in court, but “we have to be asking ourselves whether that evidence will be enough to overturn the verdict of the election in our favor…we have already done a lot of damage to this party by not accepting the results and we have let loosed our hoodlums on innocent people and if we proceed to court and the case is thrown out, then what are we doing to the future prospects of the party”

He explained that the decision by some members of the Nana Akufo-Addo campaign to take advantage of their personal relationship with the Chief Justice, Georgina Woode in 2008 to go to court on statutory holiday to file a suit, seeking an injunction on the election, continues to be one of the worrying developments that continue to hunt the party, therefore such a similar situation should not be allowed to flourish again.

A renowned Political Scientist with sympathies to the NPP and privy to the discussions retorted “Already the NPP is being considered as a party that has discredited all elections that has gone against it since 1951. In the year 1992, the party wrote the stolen verdict to state its case and this brought a lot of reforms to our electoral system, therefore, they could do same if they strongly think they have a case. Our democracy is not that robust to stand this and the NPP must know that they are sowing a seed for the young once in that tradition and knowing the NDC when it comes to propaganda, they will paint a gloomy picture of this and present to the electorates as if the NPP was embarking on an abominable mission that was injurious or inimical to the survival of this country,” He noted.

Legal Challenge

Though The Al-Hajj was unable to obtain the exact time frame the Council of Elders of the party had given the twice defeated presidential candidate to come out to concede, information we gathered indicates that Nana Akufo-Addo is hell bent on fighting the case in court even in the face of no evidence and he is expected to file his legal challenge today or latest tomorrow Friday to beat the deadline of Monday, December 31.

Deep throat sources close to the former Akyem Abuakwa South Member of Parliament when contacted, hinted his boss was not ready to rescind his decision on the court case, adding that nobody can stop him from exercising his constitutional right.

“We went into an election, we feel we have been cheated and the electoral law gives us the green light to seek redress in court…what is wrong with this? We have not gone to anybody begging him to aid us, we are doing our own thing…the Council of Elders have the right to speak on party matters by offering suggestions but they can’t determine what the leader of the party does with it” the source furiously yelled.

According to the source, the election is still not over so Nana Akufo-Addo remains the leader of the party and he is embarking on a legitimate mission that will serve the interest of the party for posterity.

“Nana will not be cowed into accepting something he does not believe in…he is a man of conscience, and moreover, a man of integrity. You don’t expect him to let sleeping dogs lie just because people are calling on him to back down…no, I can promise you that won’t happen” Akufo-Addo’s close confidant noted.

The NPP has openly rejected the official results of the elections, as announced by the chairman of the Electoral Commission, Dr Afari Gyan, and has officially given its intent to contest the results, which awarded the NDC’s, John Mahama, 50.70 per cent of valid votes cast, as against 47.7 for Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

The party’s stance is against the background of what it terms gross “abnormalities” which characterized figures which placed President Mahama as winner of the polls.

The party is still gathering evidence to file its case at the Supreme Court within 21 days, as stipulated by the Constitution to challenge the electoral results with the sole aim of getting the court to rule in favor of their candidate, Nana Akufo-Addo.

Indications are that the party will storm the Supreme Court today to officially commence what they describe as the single most important legal battle of our time.