Peace FM Online ::: Print News

I Cannot Confirm Or Deny Asantehene's "Bombshell" - Asiedu Nketiah

General Secretary of the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, has backed a statement issued by former Chief of Staff in the erstwhile Mahama administration, Julius Debrah, on matters bordering on the aftermath of the 2016 General Elections raised by the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II at a recent UN function.

Mr. Julius Debrah, speaking on behalf of former President John Dramani Mahama, refuted claims that his boss [Mr Mahama] was persuaded to concede defeat during the 2016 general elections.

The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II in a "bombshell" comment over the weekend, said it was through his effort that the former President who was unwilling to accept defeat, conceded.

Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, who was speaking at the United Nations General Assembly said: "at the conclusion of the last presidential and parliamentary elections, the country stood on the edge of disaster. The United Nations representative and the diplomatic community were aghast and alarmed that Ghana was about to slip down the slope of the electoral violence. Fortunately, the moral authority of the palace was at hand. we were able to intervene to persuade the losing candidate to accept his fate and to fly both candidates for a quiet encounter to pave way for a smooth handover."

However, a statement signed by the former Chief of Staff stopped short of accusing the Asantehene of peddling falsehoods.

Per the statement, "the decision to concede and congratulate Nana Akufo-Addo even before the official results were declared was taken by President Mahama himself without any persuasion from any quarter. The Asantehene has over the years been a very respected interlocutor in Ghana’s multi-party political engagements. He has been generous in his wise counsel to present and former Presidents. It is public knowledge that President Mahama willingly announced his decision to accept the outcome of the 2016 elections and congratulate Nana Akufo-Addo even before the official results were formally declared by the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission."

Commenting on this in an interview with Akosua Agoe Aboagye, sit-in host of Okay FM’s "Ade Akye Abia" Morning Show, Asiedu Nketiah indicated that, inasmuch as he was called by the former President to his house to take decision on the 2016 Presidential results, he cannot ‘confirm or deny’ the claims of the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II.

“The statement issued by the Chief of Staff is true. But I cannot also say that what Otumfuo said is true or not because Otumfuo did not say that he called me, but the person who called me to his house was former President Mahama and as at that time, all the results of the 2016 elections had not been declared yet...looking at the remaining results, we realised that they will not favor us and so we took a decision that he should concede defeat”, he asserted.

Whiles conceding that the former President Mahama called to congratulate Nana Addo Dankwa before his (Mahama's) concession speech, the NDC General Secretary however added that he "does not know the meeting Otumfuo is talking about. Whether a meeting took place between them or not, nobody said that I participated in it."