General News of Saturday, 11 September 2010

Source: Ghanaian Chronicle

John Mahama will never be president- Bature

His Excellency President John Evans Atta Mills is not likely to complete his mandated four year presidential term, if the current bashing and undue criticisms from within the National Democratic Congress persist, a close confidant to the President, Alhaji Iddrisu Bature, has hinted.

President Mills, according to the firebrand NDC member, may be compelled to resign from the highest position of the land, if the clandestine machinations by some leading members of the ruling party continue. “Just take it from me today; President Mills will resign on principle if the criticisms from his own people do not seize,” Bature revealed in an interview on Angel FM in Kumasi last Wednesday night.

The firebrand NDC, and a strong critic of the Rawlingses, who was reacting to claims by and NDC youth activist and General Secretary of the Youth Leadership Forum (TLP), a group loyal to former President Rawlings, said it was by dint of luck and resilience that President Mills continues to stay in power, in spite of the unrelenting thumps from within the NDC, especially, from the camp of the founder.

“He has consistently stomached all the drivel and gibberishes from his own people, but I can tell you a time will come that he will no longer withstand it,” he noted.Alhaji Bature said the President, had on a number of occasions, expressed surprise at the way his own people were handling him, and sometimes contemplated resigning from the seat, adding “The only reason he has not done so, is because of the encouragement and support offered by people close to him.”

He said President Mills feels betrayed, stressing, “When people who are supposed to support you turn out to be your worst critics, then there is nothing else you can do. But never would the wolves and blood thirsty individuals within the NDC have their way, because President Mills is not afraid to resign,” he noted.

According to him, president Mills had performed excellently well in all sectors of governance, to the extent that the NPP, as an opposition party, cannot even criticize his administration. “President Mills has managed the economy well; he has brought dignity and respect to the NDC, and if not these self-seeking party members, who are bent on discrediting him, even the NPP, as an opposition party, cannot fault his administration,” he observed.

Alhaji Bature observed that the law professor was currently playing the last but one of his master plan, having failed to deal with the cold hatred some leading members of the NDC had against him. “President Mills has applied ‘Plan A,’ and did not succeed; he switched on to ‘Plan B’ and nothing concrete is coming out from it, he might switch on to ‘Plan C,’ and that will be all,” Bature said, indicating that the President must throw in the towel to satisfy the whims and caprices of those insatiate party functionaries.

“The man was not desperate to become President oh, no! He is not power-drunk like others; he only believes in serving the country, and if certain people will not allow him to have his way, he will honourably resign,” Bature stressed.

The leading NDC member, and former host of the popular Alhaji & Alhaji programme on Radio Gold based in Accra, further hinted that President Mills had earlier attempted to resign in the heat of the 2008 presidential campaign, when it was rumoured that he had died. Bature said, but for the intervention of people like Ato Ahwoi, the then candidate Mills would have given up.

Dropping further secrets, Bature said the NDC, after the resignation of President Mills, would be doomed forever, because the Vice President, John Mahama, whom many see as the likely heir to the seat, would never become President.“If President Mills resigns, let nobody think Mahama can become president of the country,” he added.

“The man (President Mills) was not desperate to become President oh, no! He is not power-drunk like others; he only believes in serving the country, and if certain people will not allow him to have his way, he will honourably resign,” Bature stressed.