When The Informer culled excerpts of Retired Brigadier General Odei‘s article in the Daily Guide newspaper of May, 07, 2014 (page 21 to be precise), with regards to some sinister moves by some unscrupulous characters in the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) to sideline Nana Addo-Dankwa Akufo-Addo from contesting the Party’s presidential primaries, the paper was called all kinds of names.

Now, those who engaged in the said name-calling should rather be ashamed of themselves because, we stand vindicated.

The thrust of the retired General’s article included that some leading members of the Party had allowed themselves to be used to increase the number of candidates to more than five (5); which will compel the NPP to organize a Special Electoral College to reduce the number of candidates to five, in line with Article 12 A (5) of the Party’s Constitution.

The cat is now out of the bag, seven (7) people have so far filed to contest the flagbearership race of that party.

Captured in the retired General’s article headed “Threat to NPP 2016 Victory- Remove The Wedge," he made it known that “the plan is to flush out Nana Addo from the presidential primary by choking the Presidential race with so many candidates, to compel the party to organize a Special Electoral College to prune the number of candidates to five, in line with Article 12 A (5) of the Party's Constitution”.

According to him, since the composition of the delegates for the Special Electoral College is about one-fifth of the delegates for the National Executive Elections and having succeeded in influencing some of the delegates with money, this will be mince meat.

Unfortunately, the above-mooted plan, however, has backfired with Nana Addo's men having been elected to the National Executive Council.

Reproduced unedited is Brigadier General (Rtd) Odei’s article below:

“Threat to NPP 2016 Victory- Remove The Wedge

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) and its massive supporters have suffered two devastating electoral defeats in the 2008 and 2012 general elections and the defeats have affected the morale of the party to the extent that another defeat in 2016 would be too painful for the party to bear and may lead to some unpleasant developments that I shudder to imagine.

What is more painful is that these defeats were self-inflicted in the sense that the NPP never 'lost' but rather handed over the victories to the NDC on a silver platter through various acts of negligence, not to mention the connivance and shameless conduct of the Electoral Commission (EC) as demonstrated at the Supreme Court trial.

Every four years, NPP conducts elections to elect new officers to lead the party. This year, the party met in Tamale and elected its officers and Paul Afoko emerged victorious having condemned and challenged a lot of decisions of the National Elections Committee of the NPP all the way to his glorious victory.

He questioned the integrity of the Committee, which inflamed the passion of the Most Reverend Asante Antwi. On proxy he fumed, protested and threatened but surprisingly has not questioned the integrity of his victory. Time will tell. I will not take anything from Paul and I congratulate him for his deserved victory because irrespective of his confrontational attitude towards members of the Committee through the electoral process, he worked for it.

The past chairmen for 2008 and 2012 elections, Peter Mac Manu and Jake Otanka Obetsebi-Lamptey, promised the party victory, but the promises could not be fulfilled due to circumstances beyond their control.

I had the privilege of working closely with them and on my part I can honestly say they deserve commendation and not condemnation as these fine gentlemen and experienced party administrators, former Western and Greater Accra Regional chairmen bequeathed to the party some legacies which are worth appreciating.

Mac, after the party's defeat, put some of the lessons he learnt into practice and worked tirelessly to amend the party's constitution which was fearlessly resisted by some stalwarts of the party. The most significant amendment was the enlargement of the number of delegates eligible to vote in the selection of parliamentary candidates, national executives and presidential candidates with the main objective of minimizing the use of money in the election of the party's executives and candidates.

The organisation of National Conferences at the Sports Stadia starting with Kumasi and followed by Tamale was as a result of these amendments.

Jake, on the other hand, led the party to prosecute the Electoral Commission successfully for their conduct and performance during the 2012 elections at the Supreme Court.

Yes, the party did not get the verdict of the learned Justices but it is important to note that similar to criminal trials by jury, it is the decisions of the ordinary citizens of the land that matter.

By the trial, the party regained some of its lost confidence and are now poised for victory in 2016.

These are no mean achievements that need commendation and not condemnation.

Mr. Paul Afoko, the new Chairman hit the nail right in the head when in his maiden speech he indicated his desire to unite the party for the task ahead. How do we as a party unite when past and current leaders are being insulted and castigated with impunity? When we lost the 2008 elections, some unpleasant things were said about President Kufuor despite his brilliant performance as a President.

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has not been spared the insults and mockery having led the party to two general elections. The new Chairman says he is not in any camp and that is very pleasing to hear and I pray that he sticks to that statement.

Currently, the two most important personalities in the party are President Kufour and Nana Akufo Addo who command a large following within the party and these are the two factions people refer to.

The dilemma facing the NPP today is that the popularity of these gentlemen is such that if their supporters do not come together, victory will continue to elude the party.

Since President Kufour cannot contest any Presidential elections, it is only logical to assume that Nana Addo will be given the necessary support to contest the next elections without wasting funds on another acrimonious primary to select a candidate; but there are some people in the party who think otherwise.

Alan has every right to contest any presidential primary, but his desire to contest always seem to drive a wedge between the supporters of the party simply because people perceive him as the 'darling boy' of President Kufour and therefore an attempt by President Kufour to undermine the presidential ambitions of Nana Addo.

The victory of Mr. Paul Afoko and Mr. Kwabena Agyepong as Chairman and Secretary General respectively of the NPP, is seen by some supporters as a victory for President Kufour's camp and Alan the beneficiary.

The game plan as being touted by Alan supporters is firstly, to change the composition of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the Party so that decisions of the NEC will be favourable to that group's agenda.

Secondly, it is further alleged that the date for the Presidential primary will be pushed to 2015 instead of 2014 to enable Alan gain some lost grounds by polluting the political atmosphere with wild propaganda such as ' Olele abre'' which is already in circulation.

In addition, the supply of three hundred pick-ups as promised is intended to build some confidence amongst Alan and some constituencies.

The third plan is to flush out Nana Addo from the presidential primary by choking the Presidential race with so many candidates to compel the party to organize a Special Electoral College to reduce the number of candidates to five in line with Article 12 A(5) of the Party's Constitution.

How do they intend to flush Nana out of the Presidential race? The answer is simple - the composition of the delegates for the Special Electoral College is about one-fifth of the delegates for the National Executive Elections and having succeeded in influencing some of the delegates with money, this will be 'mince meat.'

Nomination is yet to be opened, but rumours in circulation suggest that we have about 10 candidates already lined up for the presidential race, namely Nana Addo, Alan, Asamoah- Boateng, Osei-Ameyaw, Joe Ghartey, Professor Frimpong Boateng, Dr Richard Anane, Dr Apraku, Issac Osei and Addai Nimo.

Some of the people who intend to file know they cannot win but for purposes of mischief, they are delighted to be part of the scheme to deny Nana Addo the third chance to represent the Party.

What is wrong with NPP? The NDC knew Mills was dying but they packaged him, put him on a 'stretcher' and campaigned for him to win the 2008 elections because at that time, Mills was the best candidate NDC had. Such deliberate plans to oust a popular candidate will definitely not augur well for NPP unity and the newly elected executives should be on their guard if party unity is their priority.

Yes, we need party unity not intrigues that can be destructive and this can only be achieved if the wedge driven between the two factions is removed.

Impending elections must be conducted fairly and every candidate given an even playing field.

The two kingpins of the party, the Chairman and the General Secretary, have stated they do not belong to any camp and therefore let's give them the benefit of the doubt and wish them well in their efforts to build a united party but they must be aware that every move of theirs will be watched, analyzed and bombarded as they did when they were not in office.