Nii Noi Nortey
Former New Patriotic Party (NPP) chairman for Klottey Korle Constituency in Accra, Nii Noi Nortey, has asked for clemency from President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, to enable him return to the fold of the party, having defied the president’s advice not to go independent during the 2016 parliamentary election.
Nii Noi won the initial primary to contest for the parliamentary seat on the ticket of the then opposition NPP, but his main contender, Philip Addison, challenged the integrity of the internal poll in court and won. Addison won the rerun and represented the party in the general election, but lost to Zanetor Rawlings of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Nii Noi subsequently bid good bye to the party and contested the seat as an independent candidate, despite persistent behind-the-scenes calls on him to rescind that decision.
Speaking to Agoo TV yesterday on his birthday, Nii Noi, like a prodigal son, claimed he had regretted his decision and must be forgiven.
“It hasn’t been easy… I will like to use this opportunity to forgive anybody who opposed me and also anyone whom I might have offended,” he said.
“When you are young you get people telling you to do all manner of things. However, I want to use this opportunity to ask for forgiveness and especially my political godfather – former President JA Kufuor. He even called me to rescind my decision [to go independent] but there were a lot of circumstances on the ground which didn’t allow that.”
He stressed, “I want to use this opportunity to apologise to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo because he also called me to rescind my decision and I didn’t listen. I must say it wasn’t an issue of disobedience, but there were a lot of politics on the ground which I can’t go into.
“Yes, I regret going independent. The circumstances which led to that were unfortunate. In life sometimes you have to make some tough decisions. I’m really sorry to the big men I failed to heed their advice.
“I’m apologizing to these big men – Nana Addo, Kufuor, Bawumia, Anthony Karbo, Mustapha Hamid, for all my actions.”
Nii Noi repudiated claims that he wants favours from the president, hence his plea.
“I don’t start a journey I can’t finish. I don’t think I’m ready for a position now. This is a genuine apology. I really love my party and I can’t turn my back on it. It’s rather unfortunate it ended up this way but I’m only asking for forgiveness,” he underscored.