General News of Friday, 6 September 2013

Source: joyonline

I will consult God on 2016 contest - Akufo-Addo

The 2012 Presidential Candidate of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Akufo-Addo, says although he still stands by his plan to take a break from politics, he will seek God's face on his political future.

The first petitioner in the just-dismissed presidential election petition said these when the Greater Accra executives and party members from the Osu Clottey Constituency called on him on Friday September 6, 2013.

Since the Supreme Court ruling on the election petition, on August 29, there have been both subtle and obvious lobbying for Nana Akufo-Addo to run on the party's ticket in the next elections in 2016.

The Ashanti Regional Chairman of the party, Frederick Freduah Antoh, said the regional executives of the party had declared their support for Nana Akufo-Addo’s third bid for the presidency.

Mr. Akufo-Addo lost the 2008 presidential election to the late President John Evans Atta Mills by a whisker, and the 2012 elections to President John Mahama by a narrow margin.

And some party faithful think he is the party's best bet for the 2016 election.

Dr. Richard Amoako Baah, a senior political science lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) also said there is nothing wrong if Nana Akufo-Addo runs again after suffering two defeats.

Party Chairman, Jake Obetsebi Lamptey, has stated that no provision in the party's constitution bars Akufo-Addo from running for a third time.

But Joy News' Beatrice Adu reported Nana Akufo-Addo as telling party members who visited him Friday that while he had heard all the calls for him to run for a third time, he was currently concerned with the progress of the nation and not his personal political career.

He said he will make his decision known, but that decision would be in consultation with God.