NPP not anti-northern – Akufo-Addo

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) is not anti-northern, three-time flagbearer Nana Akufo-Addo has said.

“This talk of the NPP being anti-northerners is simply not true.

“When you go into the history books, all the leaders of the tradition, from which the NPP emerged, are northerners. The tradition we belong to is called the Danquah-Dombo-Busia tradition. Dombo hailed from the north. Jato Kaleo, Abaayifa Karbo, Yakubu Tali, B.K Adama, Imoro Salifu, C.K. Tedam, were all northerners who started our party,” Mr Akufo-Addo said when he addressed a meeting of Muslim clerics and chiefs of settler communities at Derma, in the Tano South constituency in the Brong Ahafo Region, on Sunday, February 21.

“In my attempts at the presidency, I have stuck with my running mate, Alhaji Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, who comes from Walewale and is also a Muslim,” Mr Akufo-Addo noted, adding: “President Kufuor, before he won the 2000 election, and during the entire tenure of office, chose a running mate from the north, in the person of the late Alhaji Aliu Mahama, who hailed from Yendi. So, if somebody says the NPP hates northerners and Moslems, it can never be true. The records do not show that.”

“This type of anti-NPP sentiments only surface during elections,” the former Attorney General said, adding: “When there are no elections, we live in this country peacefully and harmoniously. These are done purely for electoral advantage.”

He, therefore, urged the people of the area and northerners in general to ignore the propaganda, but rather vote for candidates and political parties whose sole aim in office will be to better the lives of Ghanaians, through the institution of effective policies.