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If there is any one politician in Ghana’s political history who has written his name in gold as having employed almost all the doubtful tactics to achieve his aim of becoming president, but has so far woefully failed and instead; has ended up advertising his desperate disposition, the 2016 flag bearer of the New Patriotic Party, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, is the ideal candidate to wear that crown.

It cannot be gainsaid that the twice defeated presidential candidate, in his desperation to equal his father’s record of becoming President of Ghana, has allowed his ambition to seize the better of part of him, thereby ending up making a mess of himself.

This, unfortunately, has become the tragic flaw in the character of Nana Akufo-Addo who showed early glimpses of greatness in the nation’s political environment during his youth days when he led several demonstrations to fight some of the ills of the Ghanaian society.

First announcing his presidential ambition in a fierce flag bearer contest with John Agyekum Kufuor and others in 1998, the former Abuakwa South legislator’s presidential dream has since remained a delusion.
To showcase his readiness for the presidency, Nana Akufo-Addo, though an ordinary minister in the Kufuor government, almost rivaled the then sitting president with his usual long convoys paralleled to that of Mr Kufuor, and desperately answered to appellations like “Your Excellency”; that is even before the 2008 elections.

In an open show of disdain to the man who made him minister and, at his behest, the Akyem born lawyer and politician reportedly goaded his fanatics within the NPP to charge former president Kufuor of subtle support for former Trade Minister, Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen, ahead of the 2007 flag bearer contest of the NPP; at a time the then president was preparing to exit office.

Interestingly, it was the man Kufuor, who Nana Akufo-Addo and his men were accusing of working against him, who was later to, as the most powerful voice in the Busia-Danquah tradition, persuade Alan to step-down for Nana Akufo-Addo after either of them was unable to secure the maximum fifty-plus-one percent needed to be crowned Kufuor’s successor.

It was at this same 2007 congress of the NPP at Legon that Nana Akufo-Addo was again accused of having one of his numerous assigns to slap Paul Afoko, then an Alan backer but now National Chairman of NPP, with bathroom slippers for allegedly sharing money to induce delegates to vote for Alan Kyerematen.

Following a consensus to allow Nana Akufo-Addo to lead the NPP into the 2008 presidential election which he lost, he has since install himself the tin-god in the biggest opposition party and has been directing his lackeys to “deal” with persons who disagree with him.

Having staged one of the most expensive campaigns in the country’s history ahead of the 2008 election without success, Nana Akufo-Addo suddenly became more or less a political nonconformist, and at the least opportunity, viciously attacked political opponents both within and outside the NPP.

Some of his party members, the likes of former President Kufuor; former chief of staff, Kwadwo Mpiani; Mr. Kwame Mpiani, Dr Wereko Brobbey, Dr Nyaho Tamakloe, all elders of the party, and former communication director of Nana’s 2008 campaign, Dr Arthur Kennedy among other NPP folks who disagree with Akufo Addo’s leadership style, have all been virtually ostracized.

When Nana Akufo Addo in 2012 could not beat President John Dramani Mahama who had only a little over three months to campaign following the tragic death of former President John Mills, he (Nana), with support from his running mate, Dr Bawumia and then National Chairman, Jake Obetsebi Lamptey accused the Electoral Commission of skewing the election to favor president Mahama.
Foremost among the allegations they made, which they later aborted for want of evidence, was that President Mahama’s votes were padded to give him a first round victory. Based on this spurious claim, supporters of the NPP took over the Obra Spot at Kwame Nkrumah circle to picket and at the end assaulted innocent Ghanaians, including journalists.

As if this was not enough, Nana Akufo-Addo then led his party to court and ended up wasting the nation, a precious eight months at the Supreme Court; praying the court to ask President Mahama to step down and declare him (Akufo Addo) president.

As many were expecting Nana Akufo-Addo would hang his political gloves after misleading his party folks that he was shortchanged at the 2012 election, he suddenly, after a long spell in hibernation in London announced his third time bid at almost an advanced age of 70 plus.
To tame his internal political nemeses who questioned his third term bid, Nana Akufo-Addo resorted to intimidation and bullying tactics that enabled him weave his way through the party congress to be given another opportunity to lead the party into the 2016 elections.

Prior to this, Akufo Addo was alleged to have instructed his party delegates not to endorse Paul Afoko and Kwabena Agyapong for the position of National Chairman and General Secretary respectively at the Tamale congress of the NPP, a directive the party delegates said to have defied.

Following this positive defiance by the party’s delegates, Nana Akufo-Addo and his controlling loyalists in the NPP have since been hounding the two national executives, employing several crude strategies to get them step down or be impeached. This has further deepened cracks in the opposition party.

In the ensuing melee of whether Paul Afoko and Kwabena Agyapong should remain in office or not, the Upper East regional chairman of the NPP, Alhaji Adams Mahama, was acid-bathed by some unknown NPP activists.

Having realized that the window is being closed on his last attempt at achieving his childhood presidential dream, Nana Akufo-Addo and his aficionados have again resorted to knocking on the doors of the Electoral Commission to discard the present voters register and to compile a new register.

For some strange reason, the Nana Akufo-Addo and his men are blaming the present register for his lost in the 2012 election and, are therefore demanding a new register or the country sees no peace.

What has come as surprise to many is that it is this same Nana Akufo-Addo, through his nephew Gabby Asare-Otchere Darko and the Danquah Institute, who advocated for a biometric register ahead of the 2012 election.

However, political activist and some civil society organizations, other political parties and the Ghana Bar Association have all kicked against a new voters register.
Stay tuned