Podium caves in - Akufo-Addo escapes unhurt
There
was a near disaster at the New Patriotic Party (NPP) regional rally in
Kumasi Sunday when the about seven feet high dais on which the
presidential candidate, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was delivering his
address caved in.
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Also on the dais was former President John Agyekum Kufuor and other leading members of the party.
All the dignitaries escaped unhurt but unconfirmed reports indicated that some party supporters who were standing under the dais got injured and were rushed to hospital.
Other reports though unconfirmed indicated that security officials arrested three persons who were suspected to have removed some of the screws tightening the structures causing it to collapse. The suspects were allegedly seen running away from the collapsed stage.
It was a chaotic spectacle as people rushed to the scene for a rescue mission.
Many others also turned the immediate surroundings into a prayer centre kneeling and praying for God to save the NPP from any form of calamity.
It was about 6.30pm and Nana Akufo-Addo was about two minutes into his address when a loud noise was heard from the wooden structure with the presidential candidate falling on his body guard as they dropped inside the collapsed stage.
It took about two minutes for Nana Akufo-Addo to emerge from beneath the broken wooden structure and he immediately raised up the hand telling the teeming crowd at the Jubilee park that he was alive.
“Have faith in the Lord for I am not dead and will live to see victory on Friday,” he said to rapturous cheers from the rain-soaked supporters who had defied about three hours of heavy downpour to listen to their flag bearer.
Later in the night he spoke to journalists at his hotel in Kumasi where he revealed that he was feeling fine and that Dr Kwame Addo-Kufuor and other doctors who examined him had given him a clean bill of health.
Nana Akufo-Addo stated that his life was in the hands of the Lord and that he was confident the Almighty God would continue to protect him.
According to him after coming out of the accident unhurt, he saw many people praying in the rain, which was a sign of the project he and his party had set to bring prosperity to Ghanaians when voted into power.
Nana Akufo-Addo stated that the accident had not changed his schedule and that he would be in Sunyani Monday for the Brong Ahafo regional rally.
Nana Akufo-Addo said the NPP was poised for a resounding victory but cautioned the party supporters against complacency.
According to him the NDC was adopting all negative tricks in a bid to outdo the NPP and pointed out that the party would never allow them to have their way.
He praised the party supporters in he Ashanti Region for their continuous show of support and prayed that the votes for him in Friday’s elections would far exceed that of 2008.
Former President Kufuor had earlier in his address said the NPP would win in majority of the regions and that even in he Volta Region where the party had not performed well in the past, the story would be different on Friday.
Kwame Asare Boadu& Donald Ato Dapatem,