NPP WILL SURVIVE IN OPPOSITION — AKUFO-ADDO (PAGE 17, JAN 21)

THE presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) for the 2008 elections, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has expressed confidence that the NPP will survive its period in opposition and will surely come back to power in 2012.
He, therefore, appealed to members and supporters of the party not to wash their dirty linen in public and stop the blame game to secure absolute cohesion within the party.
Nana Addo-Dankwa was addressing a mammoth rally at the Jubilee Park in Takoradi to thank the people in the Western Region for the support they gave to the party during the 2008 general election.
The unperturbed teeming supporters of the party who thronged the Jubilee Park, clad in NPP T-shirts and other paraphernalia, joyfully danced to the popular tunes of the party’s campaign songs.
He had earlier interacted with the Western Regional press corps at the Takoradi Beach Hotel for him to clarify some issues pertaining to the elections.
He said the 2008 elections results were the slimmest in the political history of the country, saying: “it is important to remember that the party is not the creation of yesterday, but has existed for about 60 years and survived many trying moments”.
Nana Akufo-Addo stressed the need for soul-searching to find out what went wrong for the party to lose the elections, and that the party was collating information from all the regions to enable it to investigate what actually went wrong, adding, “We are finding out exactly what went wrong”.
He urged NPP supporters not to shudder, but to continue to stand firm, stressing, “The unity of the party is absolutely vital for its survival”.
Nana Akufo-Addo stressed that the NPP had contributed immensely to ensure peace in the country during and after the elections.
He urged people in the Western Region to continue to support the party.
The National Chairman of the party, Mr Peter Mac Manu, on behalf of the party, expressed his deepest appreciation to the people in the region for their support.
He said the party was still strong, firm and authentic, stressing that members of the party should stand firm with the assurance that the party would come back to power in 2012.
A leading member of the NPP, Mr YawOsafo- Maafo, explained that in the presidential run-off, Nana Akufo-Addo got 49.77 per cent of the total votes cast and that when the figure was corrected to the nearest decimal, it would give him 50 per cent, while Prof. E.A. Mills secured 50.23 per cent.
This, he further explained, meant that the whole country had been divided into two equal halves, with each half in the camp of Nana Akufo-Addo and Prof. Atta Mills.
Mr Osafo Maafo said Nana Akufo-Addo accepted defeat in order not to plunge the country into a chaotic situation.
Mr Jake Obetsebey Lamptey called for unity among members of the party, and that they should stop blaming one another for the defeat of the party in the elections.
“We have to work hard to win the 2012 elections. Start the hard work now,” he entreated the supporters.
The NPP Member of Parliament for Okere, Mr Daniel Kwaku Botwe, called on members of the party to remain united.
He hinted that the party’s campaign for the 2012 general election had started and all members of the party must get involved.