The Greater Accra Regional Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) says the outcome of the party’s General Secretary election on Sunday is a great lesson in humility.
The provisional results of the two-man contest put Johnson Asiedu Nketia ahead by more than 6,000 votes, beating his Deputy and challenger, Koku Anyidoho, resoundingly.
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“If Koku had consulted me, I would have asked him to go for another position…it was a wrong move. It was a wrong move. Koku is a nice guy; he is a very nice gentleman but it is a wrong move.
“You see it is like father and son…somebody that you have worked with closely and you go and you want to contest that person. It’s never the best…Every aspect of life there is that lesson,” he said.
The provisional results in the contest show that Asiedu Nketia, who has been the opposition party’s General Secretary for over a decade, secured over 7,000 votes from the 9,000 delegates while Mr. Anyidoho secured 1,625 votes.
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Speaking to Joy News at the Fantasy Dome, inside the Accra International Trade Fair Centre, Mr Ade Coker said Koku’s defeat was expected.
“Everybody knew that Asiedu Nketia is very formidable beat. He is an old horse, an old fox and this shows that confidence in him. We need people who have got experience to run the party. So I believe there is a need for us to blend the old and the new. So it is a good result,” he said.
He thinks the election results between Koku Anyidoho and Asiedu Nketia has a modest lesson that everyone can tap into.
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“It’s very important that people should take lessons from this. Don’t try to upstage your boss. You can never, never upstage your boss. You have to let your boss put you [on] a certain pedestal and with his blessing, you can move up,” he said.
– This photoshopped image of Mr Nketia, whose nickname is ‘General Mosquito’, has been circulating on social media following news he has beaten his challenger.
Political suicide
Photo: Johnson Asiedu Nketia (in smock) won the two-man contest
Prior to the contest, many had described the decision by Koku Anyidoho to contest the 62-year-old incumbent as a risky move that could cost him his political future in the largest opposition party.
Nevertheless, he kept believing in the assurances from delegates he interacted with from the length and breadth of the country during his campaign tours.
He believed he could pull a surprise at the end of the contest.
Asiedu Nketia had endured a barrage of accusation from some party stalwarts including former Central Region Chairman, Bernard Allotey Jacobs, who urged party delegates to vote him out.
According to Jacobs, some executives at the party’s headquarters had organised themselves into a mafia and are stalling the progress of the party ahead of general elections in 2020.