Tamale, April 16, GNA - The Northern Regional and Constituency Executives of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) have finally given their support to President Professor John Atta Mills as the party's presidential candidate for the 2012 general elections. The executives also said the only way the party could enter election 2012 with unity was to allow the sitting President to contest the upcoming primaries unopposed adding that 93We have resolved that we need to approach 2012 general elections with absolute unity". The endorsement of the Northern Region constitutes a nationwide endorsement of the candidature of the sitting president for the 2012 elections on the tickets of the NDC with the other regions having endorsed him earlier.

The executives of the party briefed the media in Tamale on Saturday after an expanded meeting attended by all the regional and constituency executives.

The Northern Regional Minister Mr Moses Bukari Mabengba, his deputy Sam Nasamu Asabigi and Municipal and District Chiefs Executives were also in attendance.

The endorsement statement signed by Awudu Sorfo Azorka, Regional Chairman and 26 other constituency executives advised Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings to reconsider her intention to contest the incumbent President since that could be recipe for confusion and disunity within the party.

The executives said their endorsement took into consideration the party's situation in the region and the nation in general to enable him continue with his Better Ghana Agenda. They said the electorate had seen the developments in many aspects of the Ghanaian lives and would therefore be a political catastrophe to change a winning horse in a political race like that of election 2012.

"We learnt from best practice in NDC (1) which made the then sitting President contest the 1996 primaries unopposed and that accounted for the resounding victory in 1996. Between 2001 and 2008, our main opponent saw the wisdom in it and copied our strategy and held on for eight years", they stressed.

They therefore implored the party to use the same strategy in order to obtain sweet victory for the NDC.

Meanwhile Mohammed Abdul Salam, Tamale North Constituency Secretary of the party said the constituency's support to the president was undiluted and reposed their support for him in the confidence that the President will find the murderers of the murder of the Yana Yakubu Andani II. 16 April 11