A former Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has slammed the Al Hajj newspaper, accusing it of pursuing an agenda “to manufacture lies and destroy people.”
“The work of the media is not to manufacture lies to destroy people, even if those people are seen as political opponents of the publishers. There is more to political competition than that,” a statement released by Nana Akufo-Addo’s office said on Wednesday.
It came after the newspaper published a front-page story, claiming that Nana Akufo-Addo, who is seeking re-election as the Presidential Candidate of Ghana’s largest opposition party ahead of the 2016 elections, has already put together a list of people who will form his government if he ever becomes the President of Ghana.
The paper titled the said story: “Nana appoints Jake, Sir John as Chief of Staff and Deputy”. The publication claimed that Nana Akufo-Addo has promised to make Jake Obetsebi Lamptey and Sir John Chief of Staff and Deputy Chief of Staff respectively when he becomes President in 2016.
The alleged offer, the newspaper claimed, will pass as compensation for the two former NPP top guns who lost their executive positions after delegates voted them out of office at the recently held Tamale Conference of the party.
According to the Al Hajj Newspaper, Nana Akufo-Addo has thus asked the two men to start holding themselves out “as Chief of Staff and deputy Chief of Staff in the making.”
But, Press Secretary to the former Foreign Affairs Minister has called the publication “another blatant lie cooked and served by NDC kingpin, Alhaji Bature’s ‘newspaper’, the Al Hajj”.
“The falsehood does not end there,” Mr. Arhin said in Wednesday’s statement. “The story also goes on to state that a list of ministerial appointees for Nana Addo’s government has been handed over to Dr Mahamudu Bawumia to execute, should Nana Akufo-Addo not ‘get the opportunity to lead the NPP into government.”
It added, “It is clearly obvious that a major strategy of our political opponents still remains the same: to manufacture their own set of facts and disseminate same as gospel and expect the public to swallow it. It is all part of an elaborate plan which aims to create disaffection within the NPP and against Nana Akufo-Addo. Ghanaians know better.
“We urge all Ghanaians to disregard, once again, another false story by the Al Hajj against Nana Akufo-Addo and the NPP.”
The Editor-In-Chief of the Al Hajj newspaper, Alhaji Beture Iddrisu, was not immediately available for comment.
By Richard Dela Sky/citifmonline.com