NANA URGES PEACE, UNITY AT BAWKU (Daily Graphic, Saturday November 22, 2008. PAGE 14)

THE flag bearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has called on the people of Bawku to foster peace and unity.
He said the municipality in particular and Ghana in general could not pursue any development agenda if it would remain a town divided by tribal conflict.
The flag bearer said these when he paid a courtesy call on the Paramount Chief of Bawku, Naba Asigri Abugrago Azoka II at Bawku. Nana Akufo-Addo who is on his last leg of a campaign tour was welcomed by a large crowd of supporters who ushered him into the Bawku township on Thursday.
As usual security was very tight with police and military personnel armed to the teeth deployed on the streets and other vantage points to avoid any nasty incident.
Spontaneous cheers greeted the NPP flag bearer as he made his way into the palace, his first visit to the Bawku Naba palace since he won the bid to lead the NPP in this year’s presidential election.
After the traditional greetings and exchange of pleasantries, members of the entourage seized the opportunity for a photo session with the Bawku Naba. One after the other, each member of the large entourage filed for a photograph amidst cheers from the crowd that made it to the palace
Nana Akufo-Addo expressed his appreciation to God for the atmosphere of peace prevailing in Bawku, and stressed that every well-meaning Ghanaian deserved to live in peace.
“Bawku is a very important part of this country and for many of us, not being able to come here does not augur well,” he said, adding that “without reconciliation and accommodation for each other we cannot have peace.
The flag bearer gave the assurance that he would do whatever was needed to be done to promote peace in the area. “We are prepared to go the extra mile to ensure that peace is restored to Bawku,” Nana Akufo-Addo said.
Nana Akufo-Addo introduced his running mate, Dr Mamamudu Bawumia, and the party’s parliamentary candidates for the five constituencies in the Bawku Traditional Area to the Bawku Naba and the people.
They are Messrs Adamu Daramani, Bawku Central, Alhassan Samari, Garu-Tempane, Mohammed Imoro Asoko, Pusiga, Stephen Yakubu, Binduri, and Moses Appiah Abaare, Zebilla.
For his part, the Bawku Naba expressed pride and gratitude to Nana Akufo-Addo for the visit and added that the visit would give a boost to the party’s candidates.
He later requested to have a close door meeting with the flag bearer to which Nana Akufo-Addo obliged.
From the Bawku Naba’s palace, the convoy, mobbed by hundreds of party supporters clad in party paraphernalia, drove to Natinga, where Nana Akufo-Addo visited the family of the late Alhaji Mamaha Gumah, an NPP activist in the Bawku Central Constituency, to mourn with them.
Addressing a mini rally at Natinga later, he called on the people to embrace peace and eschew all acts of violence. According to him, the forthcoming election was about the contest of ideas and policies, and therefore there was the need for the electorate to comport themselves.
Nana Akufo-Addo said when elected president one of the first things he was going to do was to establish the Northern Development Authority for the development of the three northern regions.
He also spoke of his vision to modernise agriculture and transform the three northern regions of Ghana into the bread basket not only for Ghana but West Africa as a whole.
“Under this plan, there will no more be the need for any young person from the northern part of Ghana to migrate to the south in search for non-existent jobs,” he said.
Nana Akufo-Addo also paid courtesy calls on the chiefs of Pusiga, Tempane, Garu, Binduri and Zebilla, where he introduced the party’s parliamentary candidates to the people.
At Pusiga, the chief, Naba Ibrahim Akutu, appealed to the NPP flag bearer to give the area a police station, tar the road from Missiga to Pusiga and the creation of a district if he wins power.