Nii Noi Nortey declares he will contest Klottey Korle as independent candidate
The former New Patriotic Party (NPP) constituency chairman for Klottey Korle, Mr Valentino Nii Noi Nortey, after failing to secure his party’s parliamentary nominee ticket, has officially declared that he will contest this year's elections as an independent candidate.
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He made the declaration at Osu Alata Wednesday morning to his teeming supporters who had been mounting pressure on him to go independent since he lost the primary to Mr Philip Addison.
Addison polled 396 out of the 765 votes cast to beat Nii Noi Nortey, who polled 367 votes in a re-run.
His unhappy supporters impressed on him to contest as an independent candidate even though the national leadership pledged to calm tensions and present a united front.
At a press conference Wednesday, Nii Noi Nortey said he arrived at the decision after careful consideration.
“It has gotten to this because the masses, the youth, the voiceless are calling unto Nii Noi Nortey to stand as an independent candidate. I am for the people. I aim to serve the people,” he said.
His campaign posters are already in circulation in the constituency.
"I may not be a lawyer, I may not belong to the upper class, I may not be the favorite of the 'big wigs', I am Nii Noi Nortey, a young boy with my people at heart and who believe strongly that it is God who directs our path. I have consulted widely, I have prayed to my God and spoken to my family and extensively considered the opinion of the kingmakers, the electorates.
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"I have arrived at the decision to resonate with the masses and declare that, I Valentino Nii Noi Nortey shall contest as parliamentary candidate in the 2016 parliamentary elections, as the face of hope to the youth, women, elderly and to the people who have believed in the streetism campaign. I ask for strength from above and I believe this is the doing of the Lord and his plans for me and Klottey Korle," he said.
Nii Nortey won the initial primary organized by the NPP in August 2015.
His contenders, Philip Addison and Nii Adjei Tawiah, boycotted the initial elections at the last minute, citing inadequate preparations and tried to impress on the party to suspend the elections, but their complaints were rebuffed.
Mr Addison and Nii Tawiah then went to court to get the results annulled.
After the court declared that a re-run should go ahead, Nii Tawiah stepped down and supported Mr Addison to emerge winner of the election, polling 396 votes as against 367 garnered by Nortey.
Supporters of Nortey who were aggrieved by what they described as unfair treatment by the party against their preferred candidate urged him to go independent.
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