NPP may lose 2016 without Akufo-Addo - Prof. Fobih

Former education minister, Professor Dominic Fobih, is warning the NPP may lose the 2016 elections if Nana Akufo-Addo does not lead the party.

Professor Fobih is the latest in a growing list of party members to call on the former NPP presidential candidate Nana Akufo-Addo to contest the presidency, despite calls for restraint.

Prof. Fobih led a delegation from the Central Region to Nana Addo’s residence on Tuesday to pledge their support for him to lead the party again.

Professor Fobih, who is also MP for Assin South, maintained in an interview with Joy News' Elton John Brobbey that the NPP may lose the 2016 election if Nana Addo is not maintained.

"It is not that I am coming out with the sentiment, but that is the reflection across the party hierarchy," he said.

He also noted that Nana Akufo-Addo has already marketed himself, and questioned "why would you throw him aside and look for a new person to build his image".

Everybody in the party, he said, feels that "he is a good candidate to follow than to change".

He reiterated that it will be a "big blow to us" if Nana Akufo-Addo does not heed their clarion call, adding "right now people seem to have known him more than anybody else in Ghana".

But Editor of the Daily Dispatch newspaper, Ben Ephson, thinks it is too early to call that Nana Akufo-Addo will win the presidential election for the NPP in 2016.

He cautioned the party to be rather careful about the way and manner they handle the numerous support for him to run again so that it does not weaken party structures and cause apathy as it happened after the party's presidential primary in 2007.