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Former Communications Director of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Akomea, says he was extremely surprised by the margin of loss suffered by the party�s incumbent chairman at its Tamale delegates� conference. He said Mr. Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey had demonstrated so much commitment and hard work as Chairman of the NPP and deserved to do better. The former Tourism Minister who was elected Chairman of the opposition party in 2009 was seeking re-election at the party�s delegates� conference in the northern regional capital, Tamale. He however obtained 66 votes out of a total of 4,733 valid votes cast, an abysmal performance by all standards, observers say. Nana Akomea said many were shocked by the scale of Jake�s defeat. A relatively new-comer, Paul Afoko, won the position by polling 2,032 votes to beat his closest challenger, Stephen Ntim who polled 1,500 votes. Mr. Obetsebi-Lamptey�s Vice, Fred Oware, who challenged him for the Chairmanship position polled 1,135 votes. Nana Akomea told Joy FM�s Super Morning show host Kojo Yankson Monday, that even though there was a deliberate and systematic campaign waged against him across the country by some leading members of the NPP, Jake's performance at the polls was still shocking. �I don�t think that Jake performed that badly as an incumbent Chairman. He didn�t. He worked really hard. So I am taken aback, and I�m sure many people are surprised at the margin of his loss,� he stated. He dismissed assertions that the old executive were changed because they didn�t desire to win power for the opposition party. Save the position of Women�s Organiser which was retained by Ms. Afisah Otiko Djaba, the entire executive body of the NPP was completely overhauled. A policy analysts with ties to the NPP, Dr. Charles Wereko Brobby, had said that the voting pattern was an indication that the party was determined to �bite the bullet and decide that it wants to be a party of power and not a party of noise.� Declaring that he was pleasantly surprised by the turn of events, Dr. Wereko Brobby who was suspended by party for allegedly making disparaging remarks about its decision to challenge the outcome of the 2012 elections in court, said, �I did not particularly do anything about my suspension because I didn�t feel that I was dealing with rational and reasonable people who were interested in power.� Nana Akomea however disagreed. He said it was wrong for Dr. Wereko Brobby to suggest that �the old executive were not focused on winning power.� �Which executive will not be focused on winning power? What is the point for people to offer themselves and go through the [difficult] process of campaigning and will not be focused on winning power�? he asked. Nana Akomea, who endorsed Mr Paul Afoko�s bid for the chairmanship long before the conference, said even though change is good, the NPP cannot go to sleep simply because a new executive are in place. He said the immediate past executive, led by Jake also represented a new set of executive, taking over from the Mac Manu-led executive who supervised the 2008 electoral defeat and yet the party lost the 2012 elections as well. �So we should not go and sleep or think that because there is change then hallelujah! We still must go and do the hard work,� he urged.