"NPP! No shaking! We shall be back," declared Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Election 2008 Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), on Tuesday stressing that in spite of the "intimidation" of the ruling Government the Party would grow from strength to strength and capture power in 2012 to move Ghana forward.
He said the Government of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) had spent the last four months intimidating innocent citizens and political opponents.
"We have seen attacks on NPP members in several parts of the country including Agbobloshie; Kumasi and Tamale," he said, adding that the country had experienced arson attacks in Nyihini, Lameshegu, Worizehi, Choggu and Gumbihini.
"All the 27 properties that were attacked belong to NPP members. Not a single one belong to an NDC member..No attempt has been made by the State to assist the innocent victims, numbering about 800, who had their homes and belongings destroyed," Nana Akufo-Addo said.
Nana Akufo-Addo stated this at a party forum organized to review the current situation in the country, spell out strategies for reorganizing the Party and reinvigorate the supporters after the defeat of the Party in the last elections.
The forum was attended by leading NPP members, including National Chairman and Leader of NPP, Mr Peter Mac Manu; General Secretary, Nana Ohene Ntow; the Minority Leader, Mr Osei-Kyei Mensah-Bonsu; Second Deputy Speaker, Professor Mike Ocquaye; Former Ministers of State, Members of Parliament; National and Regional Executives of NPP as well as a large number of supporters.
Nana Akufo-Addo said those affected by the violence were first and foremost, Ghanaians, whatever their political colours, and called on the law enforcement agencies to investigate and bring to book the perpetrators of these acts of violence.
He said "the apparent revival of the idea of the 'democratization of violence' in our politics is unwelcome and unacceptable".
He said the NPP Leadership had worked hard to restrain its supporters from reacting to these acts of intimidation and provocation. However, "I am very concerned that sooner or later, militants on our side convinced that the State cannot or will not protect them, may take measures to protect their interest, themselves and their loved ones.
"Events will then be out of control, driving all of us towards a point of no return...it is against this background that I am extremely concerned about the creeping threats to the peace process in Dagbon, which appeared to be with the active connivance of the State machinery."
Nana Akufo-Addo, therefore, called on the Government to adhere to the terms agreed under the Roadmap to Peace in Dagbon as fashioned by the three eminent chiefs, the Asantehene, the Na Yiri and the Yagbon Wura.
"The President, the father of the nation, should show the same even-handedness in the enforcement of the roadmap that his predecessor, Former President John Agyekum Kufuor, showed even at the risk of jeopardizing his Party's traditional support base in Dagbon. That is the hallmark of statesmanship," he stated.
Nana Akufo-Addo appealed to President John Evans Atta Mills, the ruling NDC, the opposition political parties and civil society to work together to make Ghana peaceful and safe to preserve the country's democratic development.