Nana Addo: We Won't Agree!

It appears that there is no end in sight over the controversy regarding the outcome of last Friday’s general elections, with the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) making known its intentions to contest the results announced by the Electoral Commission (EC) in court.

The presidential candidate of the party, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, yesterday broke his long-held silence on the outcome of the polls since the Chairman of the Electoral Commission (EC), Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, declared the elections in favour of President John Dramani Mahama with a passionate appeal to disgruntled NPP supporters to stay calm, saying that they would not accept the results.

“Whilst we are having these peaceful protests, we don’t want any incidents. We don’t want any troubles, we don’t want anything that will disturb the peace of this country and give some people the pretext to do something,” he said whilst addressing hundreds of enthusiastic but disgruntled party supporters at the famous Obra Spot at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle in Accra.

Nana Akufo-Addo stated, “We are not going to retreat from the stance that we have taken; we are taking our matter to the place where the Constitution says we should take our matter. We are taking it to the Supreme Court and we are going to put ourselves in the hands of the judges of the Supreme Court and they will decide the fate of this election.

“Whilst we are doing it; I’m asking for calm, I’m asking for peace on the part of our party,” he said.

Whatever be the case, he noted, “we know we won this election so the truth of this election will come out no matter how long it takes for that truth to be established…and we will get from it what we want in order to develop and move our country to prosperity, progress and development.”

Commitment

He stated, “All the commitments that I made to you in the election; about jobs, free secondary education, we have not taken any of those off the table and God willing the time will come for us to make sure that those promises are fulfilled to the betterment of our nation and to the progress of the youth of Ghana.”

He appealed to his followers to remain calm but firm in their resolve to pursue justice since “the whole of our country is watching us and if indeed we are going to deserve the support and their respect, we have to comport ourselves well”.

“But I know that of all the political parties in Ghana, the group that comports itself well are the members of the elephant party; the New Patriotic Party. This is the party of people who comport themselves well,” he added.

He thanked Ghanaians for the massive votes they gave him and his party during the just-ended elections, saying, “I’m grateful to every single person who put his thumb on the elephant and Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for the victory.”

“The fact that you have come here for hours in peace merely registering your protest and what has happened demonstrates to me that you are people who believe in democracy and the rule of law,” he noted.

The NPP has resolved to make the Obra Spot its version of the Tahir Square in Egypt from where the mass revolution that saw the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak began.

Beginning today, the party has decided to stay there in protest of the EC’s decision to declare the elections in favour of President John Mahama.