NPP Can Only Wrestle Power From NDC With A Formidable Team- Akufo-Addo

The surest way for the New Patriotic Party to wrestle power from the National Democratic Congress in the 2016 general election, is for the leadership and entire members of the party to join hands to build a formidable team. This was an observation made by the flagbearer of the party when some newly elected parliamentary candidates paid separate courtesy calls on him. Building a formidable team in his view, is one of the surest ways the party can wrestle power from the ruling National Democratic Congress government, whose 7 year tenure in office, according to him, has been marked by incompetence, mismanagement of the Ghanaian economy, rising levels of unemployment, widespread corruption and worsening standards of living of the Ghanaian. �Ghanaians are looking up to us to solve their problems. Therefore, we need victory in 2016 not for ourselves in the NPP, but for Ghanaians. We are the people who can change Ghana, and we can only do so if we build a formidable NPP,� he said. Nana Akufo-Addo made this known when newly-elected NPP parliamentary candidates from the Odododiodio and Afram Plains South constituencies paid separate calls on him. Nii Lante Bannerman, the NPP candidate for Odododiodioo, on Thursday, August 7, 2015, revealed to Nana Akufo-Addo that after winning the June 13 primary of the party, �the NDC is now confronted with a big challenge, because of my candidature.� As a young man who hails from, and has deep local roots in, the constituency, Nii Lante Bannerman assured the NPP flagbearer that despite the seeming �big margins� between the NPP and NDC in the constituency, evidenced in the 2012 election results, �we will make Odododiodioo a formidable place for the NPP from now till the elections are held in December 2016.� Accompanied by a large entourage of current and past party executives from the constituency, he indicated to Nana Akufo-Addo that he was already in the process of getting the rank and file of the party in the constituency firmly united behind him, and will stop at nothing to bring onboard the two other aspirants who contested him in the June 13 primary, Reginald Niibi Ayibonte and Nii Annan Tackie. To this end, Nii Lante Bannerman assured Akufo-Addo �in the presence of my executives, that the NPP will win Odododiodioo in 2016.� Nana Akufo-Addo, who addressed the delegates from Odododiodioo in the presence of the Greater Accra NPP Secretary, Nii Adjei Sowah; and Mustapha Hamid, his Spokerperson, thanked them for their presence at his Nima residence. The NPP flagbearer revealed to the gathering that he had already spoken to other two aspirants and has urged them to throw their support behind Nii Lante Bannerman. This was met with rousing approval from the gathering. �To overturn the margin in Odododiodioo in 2016 will not be an easy task. I believe it is, however, doable, if we work hard and are united. To the executives, please, help Nii Lante Bannerman, whether you supported him or not. The primaries are over, and it is the tradition of the NPP that we always rally behind the winner, once the contest is over,� he said. Akufo-Addo reiterated his appeal to NPP members to desist from resorting to the use of the media in airing out grievances pertaining to internal party issues, saying that �If you have any issues, please let us do it indoors. Let's bring the talk of the NPP in the radio and in the newspapers to an end.� To Nii Lante Bannerman, Nana Akufo-Addo has this to say to him: "You have a big task ahead of you, but I see you as someone who is steady and determined. I was born in Odododiodio and I will be happy if that seat comes back to the NPP.�