An aspiring Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Ashanti Region, Robert Asare-Bediako, says there is no pressure from powerful party bigwigs for him to step down for his only contender in the regional chairmanship race, Bernard Antwi-Boasiako, aka, Chairman Wontumi, to go unopposed.

He said his resolve to contest for the party’s regional position has not changed, urging his supporters and campaign team to remain resolute in their decision to work and vote for him in the party’s upcoming regional elections.

The Daily Graphic newspaper reported in its Tuesday, April 3, 2018, edition that there is growing disquiet within the Ashanti NPP as pressure mounts on Asare-Bediako to step for Wontumi.

The said report in part further stated that if Mr. Asare-Bediako who is a former Asokwa Constituency Chairman of the elephant family succumbs to the pressure from above, it will be a great disappointment to a lot of people including Members of Parliament, Regional and Constituency Executives among some other groups.

But Mr. Asare-Bediako responding to the issue on Accra-based local radio station, Okay FM, Tuesday, stated that there is no iota of truth in the said publication.

“There is no pressure on me to step down for Wontumi. The only pressure that came on me was when my campaign team and supporters besieged my house yesterday to inquire from me whether I have stepped down for Wontumi or not. They told me they heard the news on the airwaves that I have stepped down for Wontumi. Nothing of that sort has happened”, he noted.

The former Asokwa Constituency NPP Chairman said he is still in the competition and therefore urged his campaign team and supporters and to ignore such claims that may come their way.