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The Al-Hajj has learnt from reliable sources that the flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), will name his running mate next week to bring to an end weeks of dithering from the main opposition party in the country. Strategists of NPP have made compelling case to the advisers of the flagbearer and leaders of the party to name a running mate as soon as possible to divert attention from the recent crippling exposures on the party with respect to the O.B. Amoah/Woyome case, the Nana Addo fondling affair, the Asem Darkey cocaine case and the Raymond Amankwah diplomatic passport scandal. The NPP and its flagbearer initially planned to name a running mate in early January 2012 but were dissuaded by the party�s strategists with the argument that the party must dither to politically profit on the Woyome scandal that was then threatening the very foundation of their main competitors, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) party and government. With the NPP now submerged deep in the Woyome case, the strategists of the party are making compelling case for the party to go ahead and name a running mate so that they can divert attention from the Woyome case. The leadership of the party and their propagandists have been very much disappointed with the recent confession of O.B. Amoah, former Deputy Minister of Education and Sports under the Kufuor administration that he has taken money from the now embattled businessman, Mr. Alfred Woyome. Initially the NPP, their loud-mouth propagandists and media have painted a bleak picture on the ruling party and accused it of superintending the scandal that has resonated across the country. But recent revelations from the Al-Hajj revealed that hordes of NPP former ministers and functionaries have dealt with Mr. Woyome and benefitted from the GH�51m judgment debt. There is credible information that it was the NPP former ministers who allegedly engineered the scandal in order to benefit from it. Again, the NPP want to kill the uproar that greeted the recent allegations of fondling of breast of a GBC staff by the NPP flagbearer Nana Akufo-Addo. The party is seriously reeling under intense pressure and negative publicity on the fondling issue, hence the naming of the running mate to push the issue on the backburner. Further, the opposition party strategists were said to have argued to the leadership of the party that with the arrest of Asem Darkey a.k.a. Limping Man and the media publications that suggest that he is dropping names of his collaborators in the MV Benjamin cocaine case, ostensibly names of leading members of the NPP, it is important that Nana Addo names his running mate to buy some time from the unfolding embarrassment that has engulfed the party. The Al-Hajj has learnt that leading members of the NPP have been very uncomfortable with the arrest of Asem Darkey and are fervently hoping that the matter dies a natural death without being invited by the state security to answer questions on the missing cocaine in the MV Benjamin as they are currently being invited in the Woyomegate scandal. The Nana Addo fondling scandal in which the opposition flagbearer was said to have fondled the breast of a female staff of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) was another headache that has gripped the main opposition and is looking for a leeway to escape the embarrassment. The leadership of the NPP has agreed that naming a running mate will be a timely antidote to the embarrassment that the party�s is grappling with in this matter. Nana Addo was said to have made the decision on the running mate and has already sent the name to the National Executive Council (NEC) for their advice. The Al-Hajj has gathered that the NEC will meet and approve the name next week and eventually the name will be publicized in order to occupy the �front burner� of political discourse.