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Former President John Agyekum Kufuor has jumped to the defence of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, in the face of relentless attacks from the National Democratic Congress (NDC). Mr Kufuor commended Nana Addo for exhibiting maturity and tolerance in the face of constant concoction of lies and propaganda against him. The former president was speaking to journalists at the NPP rally last Saturday at Mantse Agboona in Accra. He said the opposition leader had shown �impressive restraint� in the face of petty and �rather immature propaganda.� He said despite being the target of persistently vile propaganda and concoctions, the NPP standard bearer had shown impeccable maturity and restraint by not responding in like manner. Mr Kufuor expressed regret that the nation had slipped into an abyss of vicious propaganda, lies and pettiness. The former president said he was not only amazed but also appalled at attempts to distort comments he made in respect of this year�s general elections. He had been reported by the pro-NDC media that he did not have confidence in Nana Addo that was why he had not supported him. But the former NPP leader said he was solidly behind Nana Akufo-Addo. He said he had been asked a question relating to the elections and as an elder statesman, he said Ghanaians should consider it a national duty to fully participate in the elections. That comment was interpreted to mean that he did not support the NPP flagbearer because he didn�t say that Ghanaians should vote for Nana Addo. �Ghanaians are intelligent people,� he said, �and deserve better.� He blasted the NDC government for running the country aground. Mr Kufuor said he could never understand the payment of GH�51.2 million to the self-acclaimed NDC financier under the pretext of a supposed judgment debt though the man himself admitted to not having a contract with the State. He said, �We are not a country of backward people; Ghanaians are very clever, they know that the incoming NPP administration will correct these defects in a very short time.� He urged Ghanaians to vote for Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and the NPP in the December 2012 for their living standards to be improved. The NPP flagbearer himself had accused the governing NDC of conceding that the Mills administration lacked any credible record on which to campaign. �The President and his advisors have decided that they cannot campaign on his record; they cannot campaign on his performance; they cannot campaign on the programmes he has for the future of this country; they cannot campaign against my public record,� Nana Addo told the rally. The NPP flagbearer said that �no amount of insults, lies or propaganda, no amount of threats directed at my person are going to stop me in my attempts to move this nation forward.� Asempa FM Fracas However, the supporters of the NPP leader said they would not turn a blind eye to the attack on their leader. Hopeson Adorye, an activist of the party, on Wednesday, hit back on Asempa FM �Ekosii Sen� programme when the NDC panelist, Peter Boama Otukunor, allegedly insulted Nana Akufo-Addo. The fracas led to the programme being truncated. It was the second day of the NPP returning to the programme after over five months� boycott after accusing the host of being biased. On Wednesday, Hopeson and the host, Bobie Ansah, were at each other�s throat over his style of moderating which the NPP activist claimed was against his flagbearer. According to Hopeson, Bobie allegedly threatened him with a gun. He said: �I saw a pistol in his pocket and when he walked towards me that we think he cannot discipline us and that enough of our nonsense and all that, he put the hand in the pocket and frankly I saw a pistol,� Hopeson told Citi FM. �I am a barracks boy, my father was a policeman so I know pistol, so I saw the pistol but he didn�t pull it on me that may be he will shoot me, that one no. �Oh, I was normal and I was ready for that because I am security-conscious and before he could pull that gun, I know what to do before that gun will even come out from his pocket, I am very, very conscious,� he said. Bobie, who is being linked to a new radio station at Osu, Radio XYZ, owned by another NDC financier, David Lamptey, has refused to comment on what happened on his programme.