I’m taking steps to normalise ties with NPP — Nii Noi
A former New Patriotic Party (NPP) chairman of the Korle Klottey constituency, Nii Noi Nortey, has given the indication that he is taking the appropriate steps to normalise ties with the party.
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In line with this, he plans to meet with elders of the party including President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and former President John Agyekum Kufuor to formally render an apology and re-establish ties with the party.
Speaking with the Daily Graphic yesterday, Nii Noi stated that a lot of things went wrong during the 2016 elections, but it was time to bury the hatchet.
Background
The media landscape yesterday was rife with reports of Nii Noi Nortey rendering an apology and asking for clemency from President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for defying his advice not to go independent during the 2016 elections.
Nii Noi won the initial primary to contest the parliamentary seat on the ticket of the then opposition NPP, but his main contender, Mr Philip Addison, challenged the integrity of the internal poll in court and won.
Mr Addison won the re-run and represented the party in the general election, but lost to Dr Zanetor Rawlings. An aggrieved Nii Noi contested the seat as an independent candidate, despite persistent behind-the-scene calls on him to drop that decision.
Confession
But speaking in an interview with an Accra-based radio station, Nii Noi expressed regrets at his decision and asked that he should be forgiven.
“It hasn’t been easy… I will like to use this opportunity to forgive anybody who opposed me and also anyone who I might have offended,” the young politician opined. “When you are young you get people telling you to do all manner of things.
“However, I want to use this opportunity to ask for forgiveness and especially from my political godfather – former President J.A Kufuor. He even called me to rescind my decision [to go independent] but there were a lot of circumstances on the ground which didn’t allow that.” he told the radio station.
Apology
He stressed: “I want to use this opportunity to apologise to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo because he also called me to rescind my decision and I didn’t listen. I must say it wasn’t an issue of disobedience, but there was a lot of politics on the ground which I can’t go into.
“Yes, I regret going independent. The circumstances which led to that were unfortunate. In life sometimes you have to make some tough decisions. I’m really sorry to the big men I failed to heed their advice.
“I’m apologising to these big men: Nana Addo, Kufuor, Bawumia, as well as Anthony Karbo, Mustapha Abdul-Hamid for all my actions.”