Deputy General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Nana Obiri Boahene has said lawyer Philip Addison will be heavily defeated if he contests in the Klottey Korle parliamentary primary which is to be re-run.
According to him, the contest which is to be held soon as announced by the party will be a walk off for Nii Noi Nortey, as his (Obiri Boahene’s) independent research on the ground has revealed that the stripped winner is very popular among the delegates.
The Steering Committee of the NPP has ordered a re-run of parliamentary primaries in the Klottey Korle constituency following months of controversy over its fairness.
The party’s decision comes after it agreed with the parties to withdraw the case from court. Announcing the decision, Acting General Secretary John Boadu told anxious party supporters, the re-run was necessary to ensure peace prevails in the constituency.
He noted that too much litigation has surrounded the results and only a re-run can resolve the factionalism in the constituency.
Philip Addison went to court after losing to Nii Noi Nortey in the parliamentary primary in August 2015.
He has insisted the election and results were schemed to favour the former constituency chairman, Nii Noi Nortey.
Addison who garnered 22 votes as against 393 votes for Nii Nortey boycotted the elections and accused constituency executives and the Electoral Commission of staging the polls.
Trouble started after the suspended General Secretary Kwabena Agyepong in a letter directed that elections be held on Sunday 2nd August. There was an agreement to hold it on 8th August.
Lawyer Addison’s team believed they were cheated and withdrew from the process along with another contender, Nii Adjei Tawiah.
They argued their supporters would be in church on Sunday and other delegates were not adequately informed of the change of date. He went to court where he obtained a default judgment for a re-run.
Speaking on Okay FM, Friday, the NPP deputy Scribe Nana Obiri Boahene who indicated he was speaking in his personal capacity said lawyer Addison will be floored again if he comes up against Nii Noi Nortey.
“Addison is closer to me as a friend than Nii Noi, but my research on the ground has revealed that Nii Noi has great support among the delegates, he’s very much in touch with the local people. If the NPP Klottey Korle Parliamentary elections are held ten times, Nii Noi Nortey will win ten times.
Nana Obiri Boahene urged Nii Noi to rescind his decision not to re-contest the seat.
“I’ve pleaded with him to go for the contest, if not, we as a party will not be fair to Addison and Adjei Tawia based on the circumstances of the case. I’m convinced that if you add both votes of Addison and Adjei they will not add up to that of Nii Noi Nortey, so he should go forward for the contest.”
