Akufo-Addo our next President. I’ll not let you down, he assures Ghanaians
President-elect Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has given a solemn pledge to be President for all and not let any Ghanaian down in the discharge of his duties.
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“I will do all in my power to live up to the hope and expectation of all Ghanaians,” he said.
Delivering his maiden speech after being declared the winner of the 2016 Presidential Election at his Nima residence in Accra yesterday, he said there had never been a more humbling moment in his life and, therefore, thanked the good people of Ghana for their support.
Flanked by his wife Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo, his running mate, Alhaji Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, his campaign chairman, Mr Peter Mac Manu, and a host of senior party executives, he said he had received a congratulatory message from the incumbent President and National Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential candidate, Mr John Dramani Mahama.
“At 7:55p.m., the President of the Republic, His Excellency John Dramani Mahama, called me to congratulate and wish me well. I also thanked him for his contribution to the welfare of Ghana. I told him his contribution to Ghana was not yet over,” he stated.
He also thanked the President for his graceful gesture and assured him of his cooperation for a successful transition.
I also received words of congratulation from my competitors. “I am grateful to them,” he stated.
On how he was declared the winner in the presidential election, Nana Akufo-Addo narrated, “The Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Mrs Charlotte Osei, has tonight at 8:45p.m. declared me winner of the 2016 Presidential Election with 5,716,026 representing 53.85 per cent of valid votes cast and I am grateful.”
He thanked God for granting victory to him and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) which he leads.
For those who had given him invaluable advice, including former presidents Kufuor and Rawlings, former UN Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan, Otumfuo Osei Tutu, the Asantehene, the Chairman of the NPP Council of Elders C. K. Tedam, Captain Kojo Tsikata, General J. B. Danquah, among others, he thanked them and expressed the conviction that, “I can count on you for your continuing counsel.”
He further thanked the religious leaders, notably the National Chief Imam, Sheikh Dr Nuhu Sharabutu, Rt. Rev. Professor Emmanuel Martey, Pastor Mensa Otabil, Archbishop Duncan-Williams, Apostle Opoku Onyinah, Rev. Owusu Bempah, and Prophet Ebenezer Boakye Yiadom, among a host of others, saying “I am dearly grateful to them all.”
He also thanked members of the media for their continuing engagement in serving the public interest as well as the international observer groups.
Some party supporters jubilating at Nana Akufo-Addo’s residence shortly after he had been declared the President-elect.
Particularly of mention was the Electoral Commission under the Chairperson, Mrs Osei, for the orderly manner it conducted the 2016 election.
“The EC under its new leadership should be congratulated. She and the Commission have allayed the fears of many,” he asserted.
In the view of the President-elect, the 2016 elections had contributed to the democratic accountability in Ghana, and he was full of praise for the election management body.
He also lauded the security services for helping to organise a peaceful poll, saying “that is what the nation expects of them.”
While acceding to the fact that members and supporters of the party could jubilate, he cautioned moderation and orderliness, reminding them of the fact that the NPP was a law-abiding political party.
