Apraku Rushed To Hospital -Following Black Out?

Little did many take him serious when the witty and talkative former General Secretary of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, admonished colleague politicians to �fear delegates, not ghost� after his disgraceful thrashing at the party�s Tamale conference to elect new executives, but the man popularly known as Sir John may have stated the obvious. After the acerbic NPP General Secretary, who is still licking his wounds after the heartbreaking exit from office, the latest politician to taste the dreadful exploits of party delegates as enumerated by Sir John is a former Member of Parliament for Offinso North and rejected NPP flag bearer aspirant, Dr Kofi Konadu Apraku. Credible information reaching The Al-Hajj indicates that the former Minister of Trade in the Kufuor administration had to be rushed to the hospital two days after the results of the NPP�s super delegates� congress was announced with what hospital sources said was shock-related ailment. Perhaps, over mesmerized by the extent to which he abysmally performed in the regions, Dr Apraku, also a former Minister of Regional Integration, who was aspiring to contest the flag bearer post for the third time, according to the source, reportedly feeling helpless and hapless slumped in his seat and eventually collapsed last Tuesday and had to be quickly rushed to the Lister Hospital, Airport Hills off the Spintex road. What exacerbated the unsuccessful serial flag bearer aspirant�s plight and had to be admitted at the specialized facility located within the serene �Beverly Hills� of Ghana, Airport Hills Gated Community and managed by Finali Ghana Limited, another source disclosed to this paper was how some of his campaign coordinators shortchanged him and opted for other candidates when he needed them most. Reports are that in some regions where his (Apraku) campaign coordinators made him pumped more money than he anticipated and where also these campaign coordinators were also eligible delegates and were to canvass support for his bid, he scored zero. They included the Upper West, Central and Western regions. The NPP�s super delegates� congress to prune down the number of candidates for the party�s 2016 flag bearer aspirants from 7 to 5 witnessed very interesting results with three time flag bearer aspirant Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo walloping his other six other contestants with 598 representing 80.89 percent. Alan Kyeremanten, whose managers have touted as front-runner in the first phase of the two elections, managed just 7.97% of total votes cast, while Stephen Asamoah Boateng, former Information Minister and Dr. Kofi Konadu managed to grab only 13 and 10 votes respectively and therefore dropped from the October National Delegates Congress. Addai Nimoh and Joe Ghartey both obtained 22 votes while Osei Ameyaw also polled 16 votes. This, according to political watchers is very interesting, especially in the case of Dr Konadu Apraku who was no stranger to NPP�s flag bearer contest. Indeed, his journey to lead the party dates back to 1998 when he contested against then Mr John Kufuor, Nana Akufo Addo and others but lost and repeated same in 2007 and lost again. In the latest political misfortune which has hit him hard according to NPP watchers, he couldn�t even manage to make it to the final five despite having been reported to have spent lots of money touring the length and breadth of the country. A breakdown of his votes indicate that he scored zero in the Greater Accra, Central, Western, Northern, Upper East and Upper West regions and garnered 3 votes in his native Ashanti region, 2 votes in the Brong Ahafo and Volta regions respectively, a vote in the Eastern region and 2 votes at the party�s headquarters. It is this abysmal electoral performance, The Al-Hajj�s intelligence sources gathered that got Dr Apraku brooding, leading to his collapse and eventual hospitalization. He has since been discharged and recuperating at his residence. "Hon has been worried since his abysmal outing in the NPP congress and has remained moody since and this could have triggered the black-out", the source told The Al-Hajj. Indeed, according to another source what worsened Dr Apraku�s plight was when he kept wondering how his campaign coordinators, whom he had adequately resourced in the three afore-mentioned regions, betrayed him.