The 2012 Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has expressed extreme worry and disappointment at the level of jaundiced journalism being practiced by Alhaji Bature’s Al Hajj newspaper.
This followed the publication of a series of false stories and vile propaganda against his person.
An obviously baffled Akufo-Addo yesterday caused his Press Secretary, Eugene Arhin to issue a statement to register his displeasure.
The paper was alleged to have published a concocted story in its April , 2014 edition to the effect that the decision by Akufo-Addo to contest the flagbearership position of the NPP ahead of the 2016 elections “is to cement an unfinished agenda: to plunge Ghana into crisis.”
The story, which was subsequently reproduced on Ghanaweb, claimed Akufo-Addo “hatched wicked plans to among other things reject the court ruling out-right and demand power-sharing or make the country ungovernable.”
The newspaper is alleged to have further reported that the 2012 presidential candidate of the NPP had stationed mercenaries along Ghana’s borders ahead of the Supreme Court ruling on August 29 to achieve this aim.
This, according to the statement from Akufo-Addo’s office was nothing but a total lie, describing it as “a fabrication by a newspaper which is remarkable for its absolute creativity and total disregard for the key journalistic ingredient called truth.”
Mr Arhin wondered why a cooked story which was said to be based on a ‘classified report in the possession of state security, for which its contents pointed to a treasonable offence had seen no action being instituted by the security apparatus against Akufo-Addo
“We will neither ask for an apology nor retraction from a paper situated deep in the partisan stable of the ruling party and dedicated to publishing false stories solely aimed at tarnishing the reputation of Nana Akufo-Addo, a man who has devoted his life to the struggle for democracy and peace in Ghana,” the statement noted.
Instead, the office of the 2012 presidential candidate of the NPP stated that “we will rather appeal to the general public to ignore, once again, this false story.”
This, the statement said, was because “Ghanaians want practical remedies to the hardships they have been plunged into, and not practical, ugly jokes thrown in the public arena in the forlorn hope of diverting attention from the crass incompetence, economic hardships and widespread unemployment being endured under this current administration.”
Source: Daily Guide