Akufo-Addo Sacked For Smoking Wee?

New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, according to information stumbled upon by The Catalyst, was dismissed from Oxford University in the 1962/63 academic year for smoking marijuana (wee). He was said to have been caught red-handed smoking wee, thereby flouting the University’s regulation against engaging in bad behaviour.
Nana Akufo-Addo is hiding the fact about that period of his life for the simple reason that it is not pleasant. The issue however could have been easier for him to manage or even passed unnoticed if he had not decided to hide the fact of his being a student of Oxford from the Ghanaian public and also strenuous efforts being made by his apparatchiks to deny this fact.
Over the years, Nana Akufo-Addo has managed to keep secret, facts about his attendance of Oxford University in the early 1960s because of the embarrassing circumstances that surrounded his exit from a prestigious institution of higher learning as such.
Nana Akufo-Addo’s cover was however blown on Tuesday when Mr Tsatsu Tsikata confirmed he and the NPP flagbearer were mates at Oxford. According to the renowned lawyer, the quiet posture of the NPP flagbearer regarding this fact could dent his political ambition of becoming president of Ghana.
Mr Tsilata’s intervention follows critical questions being asked by Research Advocacy Platform (RAP) about why Nana Akufo-Addo has deliberately excluded from his Curriculum Vitae (CV) the fact of his attending Oxford University in the 1962/63 academic year.
At a press conference on Wednesday, RAP, led by Mr Felix Ofosu Kwakye noted that the NPP flagbearer has compromised his integrity by concealing such vital information from the Ghanaian public and demanded answers from him to that effect.
Mr Tsikata said that as a fresh student at Oxford in 1969, he heard that Nana Akufo-Addo had left the school under a strange circumstance. Explaining, he added that there were rumours at the time that Nana Akufo-Addo was dismissed from the university, which rumours he could neither deny nor confirm.
The former Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) boss advised the NPP flagbearer to open up and set the records straight by stating the truth that he went to a prestigious University like Oxford, irrespective of how long he schooled there. This, he believed would put the matter to rest once and for all.
Mr Tsikata, who spoke on the Ekor Sii Sen programme on Asempa FM, said the attempt to deny or ignore the question and to create the impression that Nana Akufo-Addo was never a student at Oxford could be detrimental to his presidential ambition.
The General Secretary of the NPP, Kwadwo Afriyie however said Nana Akufo-Addo will not speak to the issue, a position taken by the NPP and its flagbearer which gives cause for further questions.
Mr Kwakye-Ofosu said it is clear that Mr Akufo-Addo enrolled into the Oxford University in London in the 1962/63 Academic Year but left the University under “unexplained circumstances” indicating that the NPP leader owes Ghanaians an explanation as to why he left the university at the time and why he has not included it in his CV.
“Mr. Akufo-Addo has never stated on his CV that he attended Oxford University in any introduction of himself on any platform [to indicate] that he studied there. Despite widespread commentary on this matter, there has been no response from either Nana Akufo-Addo himself or his spokesperson,” Mr Kwakye Ofosu stated.
According to him, “Lingering doubts about which school Nana Akufo-Addo attended and whether or not he has concealed aspects of his education does not go well for our democracy as it runs contrary to the principle of full disclosure.”
Issues of Nana Akufo-Addo’s association with drugs, particularly marijuana, are no longer new as they have become the main political albatross around his neck for some time now.
The recent wikileaks reports also made some astonishing revelations about information given by some close pals of the NPP flagbearer and a US ambassador who confirmed he uses drugs, and that he smokes wee.
This paper challenges Nana Akufo-Addo to speak to the issue as to whether he was not dismissed by authorities of Oxford University in 1963 for being a recalcitrant student who was caught smoking wee.