Cape Coast -- MUNIRU Arafat Nuhu, 56, last Thursday overcame opposition from government appointees and made it with zero to spare when he secured 39 votes against 19 out of a total 59 cast to return as the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) of this hotbed of politics, Cape Coast. The 39 votes were exactly two-thirds of the total votes cast, which was required for his approval following his nomination by the President for his second term in office.

The election was supervised by the regional electoral director, Michael Ayimadu while two government appointees were sworn in by Justice K.K. Aquaye, a Supervising High Court Judge of Cape Coast who was also swore in Mr Arafat as the M.C.E.

Mr Kojo Anaise Yarquah, the Presiding Member of CCMA had pleaded with the assembly members to forget about the past and think about the development of the municipality also though he had also applied for the position andsilently campaigned against Arafat.

The Deputy Central Regional Minister, Nana Ato Arthur who had scrambled through a similar election at Odoben Brakwa just days earlier, urged the assembly members to vote for the President?s choice.

When Arafat was given the chance to say something to convince the honourable members to vote in his favour, the muslim surprised them by suddenly bursting into a Christian chorus: ?Aseda ye Nyame ndze? meaning ?thanks belongs to God,? stirring thus some of the members, most of whose countenance remained inscrutable, hence were unpredictable.

Arafat, who could best be described at that moment as an inspired ?Man of God?, continued his speech by saying, ?God?s glory should rest upon you,? urging them to render endless thanksgiving to the Lord.

In-between his preaching which was garnished with proverbs that sought to draw the attention of the members to his humility beside apologizing to the people he thought he may have wronged, he prophesied ?For I can hear it in my body and blood that you are going to vote me.?

In this state of pure apostleship, Chief Arafat, as he known in the municipality, shocked the assembly members again, with another Christian chorus in response to his approval.

?I will lift up your name higher, Great God Jehovah? God lives, thanks to God,? was perhaps the shortest speech so far delivered among the nominees who had received approval in the region.

Meanwhile, a deputy minister for Local Government and Rural Development, Kofi Poku Adu-Osei, congratulating the assembly members for endorsing him, advised Arafat to work with them as a team to move the municipality forward.