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Mr. Osei Assibey Antwi, a former Ashanti Regional Deputy Minister in the Kufuor administration, has made a passionate appeal to party stalwarts, founding members, executives, and membership of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to respond positively to the burning desire of Ghanaians, and support the candidature of Nana Akufo-Addo. He believes the step would be in the supreme interest of the party, and has, therefore, called all contestants to heed the cry of Ghanaians, and mobilise all their support for Nana Akufo-Addo in his third time bid. The former Minister noted that much as the NPP, as a democratic party, believes in contest as one of its features, critical situations such as the present one, demands critical measures to achieve the ultimate goal, as a party to win power to enable it implement its policies and programmes. He said in such situations there is always the need for consensus building among all interested stakeholders in the party, in order to actualise this goal. Osei Assibey noted that all the personalities who had announced their intention to aspire for the position of flagbearership of the party have key roles to play in an NPP victory based on their varied rich experiences in business, legal, engineering, marketing, health, and agriculture among others, which would be required to run an NPP government, come 2016. He mentioned that the clamour for the flagbearer position by all the aspirants � Nana Akufo-Addo, Alan Kyerematen, Dr. Kofi Konadu Apraku, Joe Ghartey, Asamoah Boateng, Isaac Osei, Francis Addai Nimoh and Dr. Frimpong-Boateng � though highly placed party members and worthy of leading the NPP in the 2016 elections, because they possess the qualities and experience to lead the party, it portends danger to the unity and cohesion of the party. Since allowing every aspirant to contest the flagbearership of the NPP would lead to a divided front, acrimony and polarised party which will take a long time to heal and mend and cost the electoral fortunes of the NPP, Mr. Osei Assibey Antwi has implored all interested candidates to shelve their interests and throw their support behind Nana Akufo Addo. He said among all the potential candidates for the flagbearership of the NPP in 2016, Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo reverberates across the length and breadth of the country, and in the international arena. His popularity and universal appeal are without measure and beyond compare. He has been marketed vigorously nationwide, and there is no shred of doubt that he would have been the President of Ghana today, but for reasons known to everybody, and which were loudly amplified and buttressed by evidence presented at the Supreme Court during the 2012 Election Petition hearing. Osei Assibey Antwi said Nana Akufo-Addo is a tried and tested candidate, with both local and international appeal, which became evident in the various accolades conferred on him after the Supreme Court verdict, culminating in his selection as head of the Commonwealth Observer Mission for the South Africa elections. Based on this, Osei Assibey Antwi indicated that selling him to the electorate would not be an uphill task. He has, therefore, called on NPP supporters and sympathisers, and entire Ghanaian electorate, to work to retain Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo, the 2012 presidential candidate, in the 2016 polls. Explaining his position, Osei Assibey Antwi said elections are a very expensive venture, and require a massive dose of financial and material resources, and, therefore, there is the need for the NPP to poll all available resources to run the party�s elections, since the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the NPP�s main competitor in the 2016 elections, has access to unlimited state resources to prosecute the upcoming elections. According to him, the nation has been destroyed by President Mahama and his corrupt NDC government, and the NPP must quickly position itself to resuscitate the dying economy when it assumes power in 2016. He said Ghana, which only some five years ago was regarded globally as a haven in the turbulent West African region, with a robust and vibrant economy and enviable democratic credentials, is currently at the crossroads, and gradually, but dangerously, heading for an abyss. According to the former deputy Minister, the Mahama-led NDC, through a potpourri of corruption, inefficiency, insensitivity, bad policies and programmes, unbridled taxation and nepotism, has driven the country into a failed state. All the monumental achievements and interventions rolled out by the NPP, under ex-President John Agyekum Kufuor, have been run down by the visionless President John Mahama and his bunch of �greedy bastards and babies with sharp teeth.� As a result, the nation and her citizens are said to be on their knees, gnashing their teeth, and desperately crying out for a redeemer in the NPP, as the only source of salvation and redemption. Osei Assibey Antwi said the situation, therefore, places a burden and responsibility on the doorsteps of the NPP to do everything humanely possible to put its house in order, and win power to liberate Ghanaians of their woes, and failure on the part of the NPP would amount to negligence of duty, not only to humanity, but also to God. He said the NPP has gone through the mill, with regard to the conduct of internal elections at all levels with a great deal of success, and expects that it clears the biggest hurdle with the election of a presidential candidate to lead the NPP in the 2016 elections and provide the needed hope to the good people of Ghana.