In the wake of comments supporting or condemning NPP flagbearer Nana Akufo-Addo’s “All die be die” exhortation of his party faithful, NDC MP for Tamale Central and Deputy Energy Minister, Hon. Inusah Fuseini, has described Nana Akufo-Addo’s pronouncements as one made by a “desperate man of a lunatic fringe”.
According to him, Nana Addo’s desperation stems from the fact that the New Patriotic Party has a history of not allowing its candidates who have contested and lost twice, to run for a third time, citing the case of Prof Albert Adu Boahen, a former NPP Presidential Candidate as an example.
“If somebody (referring to Nana Addo) is seeing that his chances are diminishing by the day, he goes into desperation and he makes a transition that is hard to believe.”
According to Hon. Inusah Fuseini, Nana Akufo-Addo’s conduct smacks of someone who is on the verge of madness.
“His behaviour is bordered on a lunatic fringe. When you say something that has the potential of throwing the country into confusion, then people ought to talk about it. You see a man who in 2008 had said on several platforms he is not prepared to become the President of this country if a single blood was to be spilled, makes a transition in two years to a point where he is prepared to let people lose their lives to become President, then you need to interrogate what conduct will motivate a person to make that dramatic transition” he said.
According to him, Nana Addo’s claims that he was seeking to speak against intimidation and oppression of NPP members were baseless.
“Who are the oppressors? Oppressors are those who took over the will of the people without a legitimate mandate. How can you call a Government that has been legitimately constituted as oppressors? That interpretation has no foundation. It has no leg to stand on” he insisted.
Responding to a quotation from the Holy Qur’an which implies that if you are attacked you are expected to reply, as Nana Addo seeks to urge his supporters to do, the MP said “Don’t be the first one to attack and don’t be the first one to incite your people. Don’t be the first person to let your people know that it will be right and proper to take the law into their own hands. A leader sometimes leads the people in the opposite direction. When the people are doing things which in your view will not conduce to the welfare of the State, you lead them in the opposite direction and marks of great leaders are known by that. Letting the people make a turn towards goodness,” he said.
The MP noted that as responsible politicians, “we have a duty to let the electorate know that elections are not necessarily won through violence”.
But the NPP presidential candidate has continued to encourage his party’s supporters to stand up for their rights, insisting that whiles NPP supporters will not throw the first blow, they will respond in kind to any intimidatory actions of the NDC.
At a meeting with his party members at the Trade Fair Centre, Accra, on Friday February 11, Nana Akufo-Addo said the time to be timid and reserved was over, and urged them to be bold and not intimidated by any form of action or word that prevented them from exercising their democratic rights.