General News of Tuesday, 27 November 2012

Source: Joy Online

Akufo-Addo was withdrawn from Oxford by his father, Akomea reveals

It has emerged that New Patriotic Party (NPP) Presidential Candidate Nana Akufo-Addo was withdrawn from Oxford University in the UK by his father.

There had been calls from the pro-NDC group Research and Advocacy Platform (RAP) for the NPP flagbearer to publicly explain his inability to complete his degree at the prestigious institution, leaving the school shortly after he enrolled in the early 1960's.

Felix Kwakye Ofosu, who speaks for the group, could not fathom why the NPP flagbearer would hide the fact that he attended a high profile university like Oxford and by excluding it from his CV. This unusual move, he said, suggests that Akufo-Addo was probably dismissed for misconduct.

Former presidential spokesman for the NPP Kwabena Agyei Agyepong appeared on Joy FM’s news analysis programme News File Saturday to confirm that Akufo-Addo had enrolled in Oxford University but was unable to complete his courses there. He refused to go further into why this was the case.

Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show on Tuesday, though, NPP Communications Director Nana Akomea revealed that Akufo-Addo’s father had withdrawn him from Oxford University because he thought it was more prudent to educate his son at the University of Ghana.

“Nana Addo went to Oxford University, his father withdrew him to come to Legon, that is what his father did; this is an 18-19 year old boy,” Akomea reported.

He denied claims that his party’s flagbearer had been sacked by the institution, saying that Nana Addo did not leave Oxford because he had done anything “untoward”.

According to him, it was the decision by Nana Addo’s father to give his son a blend of Ghanaian and Western education.

“Nana Addo’s father, I believe, wanted his son to have a blend so if you remember, he brought him to King Tackie Primary School at Adabraka in Accra, and then he took him to public school in England, a very exclusive private school where finished his secondary school, started Oxford and then the man [his father] brought him to Ghana. In my mind, you could see this is a man who is trying to give his son a blend of both worlds.

“When he finished University at Legon, he took him back so he could finish his Law and polish it up in France and so on,” Akomea explained.