Interesting drama unfolded at the headquarters of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) yesterday when the 2012 Presidential candidate of the party, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, arrived to pick his nomination forms for the flagbearership contest.
This was minutes after former Information Minister, Stephen Asamoah-Boateng, popularly known as Asabee, had picked his nomination forms, having paid the mandatory GH¢10,000 fee.
Asabee was followed by some placard-wielding party faithful who mobbed him at the venue to give him moral support.
Moments after he had paid and secured the forms, he left the place, leaving behind his supporters – most of who were bussed to the location.
Not too long thereafter, news went round that Nana Akufo-Addo was on the way to the party headquarters to pick his forms, making anxious journalists and some supporters of Asabee who were on their way out of the head office, return.
When eventually Nana Akufo-Addo surfaced there were rapturous and spontaneous shouts of ‘Nana oo, Nana oo’.
At that point most of Asabee’s supporters who were left behind dropped their placards and rushed to meet the man, suddenly switching their allegiance to Nana Akufo-Addo and hailing him as the people’s choice.
This came as a surprise to many, including some staff at the head office who expressed doubt about the commitment of those persons to Asabee’s cause.
Process
Upon arrival, Nana Akufo-Addo’s first point of call was the treasury department, where he presented his bank draft of GH¢10,000.00, for the nomination forms.
After being handed a receipt as proof of payment, he proceeded to the conference room to pick his nomination forms.
He was met at the conference room by the National Chairman of the party, Paul Afoko and 2nd NPP Vice Chairman, Sammy Crabbe, amidst smiles.
Nana then presented his receipt to the chairman who in turn issued the forms to him (Nana).
Nana Akufo-Addo assured the Chairman of his commitment to abide by the rules and regulations of the contest and said he would ensure that his supporters did likewise.
He however, declined to speak to the media.
Biblical Asabee
In an earlier interview with journalists, Asabee described himself as the David of the NPP who would rescue the party from the electoral defeats it had previously suffered at the hands of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) saying, “I may be the David that can down the Goliath for us.”
Sounding more biblical he said, “Most people will think that I don’t belong here but God in His own wisdom knows what He is about and doing.”
Asabee did not want to be assessed by the fact that he could not win the Mfantseman West constituency seat for the party in the last two elections. According to him, “That seat never belonged to the NPP, so I didn’t lose it; it didn’t belong to us in the first place.”
He admitted, “Maybe my flamboyant nature and my own character thought that it was a safe seat; it was never a safe seat so it doesn’t matter.”
He noted, “Anyone who has never lost an election has never fought one before…if you’ve done it before, losing and winning is part of the democratic dispensation that we’ve embarked on.”
Aside that he said, “When you lose, you learn and you learn from a lower level, pick it up and do better.”
Mr. Asamoah-Boateng insisted he was the chosen one to win victory for the NPP in 2016.
“Today is the appointed time of God. I prayed about today before coming,” he disclosed.
“Not by my might but by the grace and might of the Lord. Most people have asked me, ‘Is this your place? Can you do this job?’ Then I referred them to David,” he responded to a question as to whether he could do the job when given the mandate.