ODIKE BEATS HASTY RETREAT …As he files to discontinue suit
From Issah Alhassan, Kumasi
THE DISMISSED Presidential Candidate of the trouble-ridden United Front Party (UFP), Mr. Akwasi Addai, has finally given up any hope of reclaiming his position as the flagbearer of the party.
The Kumasi-based businessman has made a shocking u-turn on his decision to challenge his dismissal from the party in court, by withdrawing the case.
Mr. Addai had filed a suit at the Kumasi High Court, challenging the legitimacy of the National Executive Committee of the party to dismiss him as a flagbearer and elect a substantive one.
In a suit No. C12/36/13, the plaintiff, Mr. Akwasi Addai, sued the National Chairman, Nana Agyenim Boateng, the acting General Secretary, Razak Kojo Opoku and the newly elected Presidential Candidate, Kwaku Owusu Antwi, praying the court to take the necessary action against the three defendants for illegally expelling him from the party.
Mr. Addai, popularly known as ‘Odike’, had for the last few months been at loggerheads with the national executives of the party, after he was dismissed as the flagbearer on the grounds of incompetence and alleged financial misappropriations.
Since the announcement of his dismissal, Mr. Addai had employed several tactics to reassert his position as founder and flagbearer of the UFP, with the latest move being the visit to the Electoral Commission (EC) office in Accra a few weeks ago, where he picked nomination forms to contest as presidential candidate of the party.
But in what could be described as shocking turn of events, Mr. Addai has told the Kumasi High Court 5 that he is no longer interested in challenging his dismissal in court.
In a Notice of Discontinuance, a copy of which had been made available to The Chronicle, the Kumasi-based business tycoon prayed the honourable court to discontinue the case, though he included a caveat “with liberty to come back”.
The discontinuation leaves his successor, Kwaku Owusu Antwi, Italy-based businessman as the rightful and undisputed presidential candidate for the party.
The National Chairman of the UFP, Nana Agyenim Boateng, told The Chronicle that the outcome will afford the party the opportunity to concentrate on its campaign.
“I think it is a victory for democracy; now we can focus on selling our presidential and parliamentary candidates,” he noted.
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