I won’t contest any elections - Nii Noi

A former New Patriotic Party (NPP) Chairman of the Korle Klottey Constituency, Mr Valentino Nii Noi Nortey, says he has no intention of contesting any election when he returns to the party.

He said his attempts to build bridges after the hostility that characterised the December election is practically in the interest of better intra-party relations within the constituency.

Nii Noi, who has been tagged as the prodigal son by his compatriots, said the insecurities and anxieties of the current party executive had reached alarming levels for which reason his followers were being hounded and sidelined unnecessarily. 

Speaking on State of Affairs on GHOne TV last Friday, Nii Noi said he posed no danger to the executive members because he would not contest for any post or elections, as was being speculated by some elements within the party.

No plans to contest elections

“Contesting an election is not in my plans now. Let me make this clear. Many party people are going through a lot. They are being victimised because they love me. I get calls every day. People whatsapp me and tell me they’ve been given letters by the constituency secretary and they’ve been sacked from the party because they are perceived to support me. But you can’t tell who voted for who on the ballot paper, because nobody’s name is written on the ballot paper. I think the Constituency Chairperson, Madam Juliana Aboagye, has addressed these issues. 

“But to be honest with you, those who feel a group of people should be pushed out from executive positions or as polling station executives or from the constituency are genuine. They feel that if these people are there, there will be another primary and they won’t support their candidate, but I want to assure them on this big platform that I’m not ready to contest any elections. The infighting should stop because I’m not interested in contesting any elections,” he stated.

Begging for mercy

Nii Noi Nortey is also begging for mercy from President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, following his intransigence to go independent during the 2016 general election.

He won the initial primary to contest the parliamentary seat on the ticket of the then opposition NPP, but his main contender, Mr  Philip Addison, challenged the outcome of that election in court and won.

Confession and apology

In the rerun organised by the party, Mr Addison won and became the party’s parliamentary candidate. An aggrieved Nii Noi Nortey then contested the poll as an independent candidate much against the will of the party as he was prevailed upon by many bigwigs to rescind his decision. At the poll, both Nii Noi Nortey and Mr Addison lost to Miss Zanetor Rawlings of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

Meanwhile, Nii Noi has confessed that he has regretted and must be forgiven.

He stated: “It hasn’t been easy. I would like to use this opportunity to forgive anybody who opposed me and also anyone whom I might have offended,” the young politician opined. “When you are young, you get people to tell you to do all manner of things. I want to use this opportunity to ask for forgiveness, especially from my political godfather – former President J.A Kufuor. He called me to rescind my decision [to go independent] but there were a lot of circumstances on the ground which didn’t allow that.”