The national and regional offices of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) say Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, Minister of Information and Presidential Affairs and also Greater Accra Regional Chairman of the NPP has hit the campaign trail in earnest, moving heaven and earth to brighten his chances for re-election as the Greater Accra Regional Chairman of the party.

NPP sources told the CHRONICLE that as soon as Jake landed at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) in Accra in the middle of last week as a few weeks ‘cooling off’, outside the country, he made a few fast moves to beat off Nii Adjiri Blankson’s “conspiracy” by rallying together “some faithful elements” both in the regional and national headquarters with the view to getting them “ambush” Nii Adjiri before he does further damage to his re-election bid.

The master tactician has met with Greater Accra’s NPP Members of Parliament and also had a “session” with leading lights in the Amasaman area (Ga North) where he pumped flesh and exchanged pleasantries. The media guru is planning how to hype up his campaign bid via the media, the Chronicle was told, after the shocker from Nii Adjiri whose entry into the race was ‘hyped’ by The Chronicle at a time the master strategist himself was incidentally out of the country.

The paper learnt that the initial panic waves that surged into the bunkers of the Jake campaign machine have given way to deft political moves and pushing of more foodsoldiers onto the ground. It was a ‘cold chop’ for Jake till Nii Adjiri ‘virus’ before he (Jake) develops an acquired immunity deficiency syndrome for the Nii Adjiri machine ‘built for the rough terrain.’

Nii Adjiri was in Kumasi over the weekend to reinforce ties with the Ashanti regional branch of the party and seek their moral and spiritual support. Sources say he was also at La on Sunday evening to observe the constituency elections which had twice been put off by regional party gurus who are becoming increasingly worried over the spate of violence characterising NPP constituency elections.

Nii Adjiri has commended Jake for his masterly efforts as a National Campaign Manager that culminated in the victory for the NPP in the 2000 elections, but believes Jake must focus on strategising to counter NDC propaganda and also help put in place programmes to get the message of the party down to the grassroots level in terms of the government’s vision and objectives.

Dr N. Nyaho-Tamakloe, a leading member of the NPP, last week called on delegates attending the congress to show dedication and a sense of dignity to the party by voting for a man with the capacity to “organise and mobilise the people at the grassroots” and also help with tackling the day-to-day running of the party in the region with the ultimate aim of moving the whole Greater Accra Region to return President Kufuor to power in 2004. the date for the congress has twice been postponed.