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The former first lady Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings has said emphatically that she would not, under any circumstances allow herself to be driven away from the ruling NDC party which her husband founded. Speculations have been rife that she and former President Rawlings may secede from the NDC to form a new party in case she loses the flagbearer contest to President Mills. However, Mrs Rawlings has been heard declaring boldly on a secret tape, that she would damn all odds and stick with the party for as long as it takes to fix what she sees as problems within it. Speaking to delegates at Ashaiman, she said she had no intentions to breaking away like other former NDC stalwarts did in the past as a protest to former President Rawlings�s unilateral declaration of former Vice President Mills as flagbearer of the party prior to the 2000 elections. �I am also a very die hard NDC person; nobody can move me away from the NDC. Some people were able to move from the NDC and they went and form their party but I am not going anywhere, they will rather go. Why should I leave my party, we worked for this party, let us stay in it...I am not going anywhere� She said. According to Mrs Rawlings, she decided to challenge President Mills because she was the only person found by her husband as the only marketable person in the short term capable to oust President Mills. �A lot of people, including the youth and women came to our founder and pleaded with him that somebody has to challenge President Mills because if he wins another year we are doomed. After looking through it was clear that there was nobody who can be marketed in the short term. �I have taken this challenge because I love the NDC, I have taken it because I know there should be a succession pattern in the NDC. If you give me the opportunity to be the flagbearer, I will make sure that the party structures which are the bedrock of this party become supreme�. Meanwhile, the NDC officially closed nominations for its flagbearership. Nana Konadu and President Mills were the only people to submit their forms. Dr. Ekow Spio-Garbrah pulled out of the race after he failed to meet the necessary nomination requirements. President Mills and Nana Konadu would be vetted on Tuesday June 7 and Wednesday June 8. The General Secretary Johnson Asiedu Nketiah in an interview with Citi News said both candidates were duly informed after they submitted their forms.