General News of Tuesday, 5 November 2013

Source: The Al-Hajj

Buddhist monk predicts Prez Akufo-Addo in 2016

When the twice defeated presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, announced to his party folks that he “will take some time out of the hurly-burly of politics” to seek the face of God on what to do next with his life, little did Ghanaians know that emissaries had been dispatched globally to consult almost any influential spiritual leader on his chances of achieving his childhood dream of becoming President.

Highly convinced of not achieving his father’s feat in politics after an unsuccessful attempt to use the Supreme Court to get to the presidency, especially when his advancing age and health status will not allow him to engage in another fierce political battle, Nana Akufo-Addo could not tell his party folks whether he will contest the 2016 election or not.

Even when national executives of his party sidestepped their constitution which debar them from openly rooting for a particular flag bearer aspirant and called on him to consider leading the party into the 2016 election, the former Foreign Affairs Minister in the ex-President Kufuor regime, only asked them to hold their horses and allow him seek the face of God.

But credible information available to The Al-Hajj is that whiles cooling in the Queen’s land and certainly considering how to announce his exit from active politics and enter the hall of fame of statesmen like Mr. Kofi Annan and former presidents Rawlings and Kufuor among others, some of his trusted aficionados who had consulted a powerful Buddhist monk in Tibet, whispered to him of how glaring his chances are in the 2016 presidential elections.

Sources close to the NPP’s 2012 presidential candidate narrated to this paper how in an effort to “get Nana Akufo-Addo back to contest 2016 election” volunteers are busily combing almost all spiritual homes in Israel, China and Saudi Arabia among others, in search of what plan(s) the Supreme being has for him.

This paper has gathered that the “search team” that was sent to China has whispered to Nana Akufo-Addo, who is still nursing his wounds from the Supreme Court’s verdict on the election petition, that a spiritual Buddhist Monk in Tibet has predicted that he will be crowned president in the next election if he decides to contest.

The “prophecy” of him becoming president in 2016 is said to have confused Nana Akufo-Addo, who is now torn between whether to announce his readiness to contest the 2016 election in spite of his health and advancing age or hold on to his newly acquired status of an elder statesman.

Insiders say, some of Nana Akufo-Addo’s lieutenants have told him that the great Buddha of Lahsa of Tibet has given a concrete assurance that 2016 is a done deal for Nana Akufo-Addo; therefore his failure to contest the next election will keep the NPP in opposition for only God knows the number of years.

Though Nana Akufo-Addo himself is still not clear on whether to run or not, some of his devotees whose significance in Ghana’s political landscape is dependent on the twice defeated torchbearer’s continuous existence in politics have started announcing his likely comeback for a third bout just to put pressure on him to contest.

The insiders say, because the euphoria behind the call on Nana Akufo-Addo to contest the 2016 election immediately after the election petition verdict is considerably waning, his aides, who could not make an emphatic statement on whether Nana Akufo-Addo will contest or not, have started speculating of his possible comeback just to keep his grassroots support intact.

Recently, Nana Akufo-Addo’s cousin, Mr. Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko and the acting Chief Executive of the Danquah Institute, Mr. Mustapha Hamid, announced in the media that their ‘preferred’ candidate is likely to stage a comeback despite his advanced age, health status and freshly attained status of elder Statesman.

Strangely, Mr. Gabby Asare-Otchere, who saw little window of opportunity in politics after Nana Akufo-Addo announced his ‘sabbatical’ leave in politics, and had to quickly handover the management of Danquah Institute to Mustapha Hamid to travel abroad and do something better with his life, popped up from his hideout overseas to announce a possible comeback of the twice defeated presidential candidate.

Hiding behind the cloaks of reacting to a story published by this paper on how he (Gabby) privately announced Nana Akufo-Addo’s exit from politics to a kingpin of NPP and that also forced him to make good his promise to quit politics and travel abroad, stated that the 2012 presidential candidate flagbearer is "more likely" to run for the third time in 2016.

“Indeed, I believe that after all that he has heard and seen, after all the calculations and analysis of the current social and economic situation in Ghana, the state of the NPP and its prospects and challenges of electoral victory in three years’ time, Nana Akufo-Addo is more likely to offer himself to lead the opposition party for the 2016 presidential election than not. This is my expectation. Nothing more, nothing less,” he stated.

To give Gabby’s statement more life, an aide to Nana Akufo-Addo and now acting Chief Executive of Danquah Institute, Mustapha Hamid also declared in the media that "Nana Addo will heed the call of thousands of supporters across the country" and will contest the next elections.

Nana Akufo-Addo, who is not of the best of health, is presently cooling off in the UK after a fierce 2012 political campaign and a protracted legal battle, which challenged the results of the 2012 presidential election.

Prior to his departure from Ghana, he promised his followers he will let them know the plans for his future on his return, but sources opined, few days after he left the shores of Ghana that age is not on his side, and that makes him more likely to say goodbye to politics.