Nii Noi Nortey goes independent after losing to Philip Addison
Valentino Nii Noi Nortey, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary aspirant in Klottey Korle who lost the re-run of the primary lost to lawyer Philip Addison, has declared to contest the 2016 parliamentary election as an independent candidate.
He said: “I will be contesting the election as the face of hope to the youth, women, elderly and to the people who have believed in the streetism campaign.”
Nii Noi Nortey made the declaration during a press conference at Osu Alata.
He said he was going into the race with a heart filled with passion to see the constituency develop, the youth gaining employment and the Klottey Korle becoming the heart of Ghana.
He said: “While others may have the big men on their side, I have the foot soldiers. As our abortive court petition showed, elections are won on the ground, at the polling stations, not in court.”
“As Addison said, he has the blessing and backing of Nana Addo. I Nii Noi, have the blessings and unflinching backing of the grassroots. My primary objective of entering this race is to give the people of Klottey Korle, especially the youth, a sense of belonging and hope and not hopelessness, to help them find jobs and enable them to create their own businesses,” Nii Nortey said.
In the first election held on August 2, 2015, Nii Noi Nortey won by 393 votes, Mr Adjei Tawiah 90 votes and Mr Philip Addison 22 votes.
Nii Adjei Tawiah and Mr Addison protested and a court action was taken by the two and a judgement was obtained in court for the re-run of the election.
Nii Noi Nortey said he was not heard in court and that “the issue as to whether there should be a re-run was never tried on merit.”
“After several attempts by the managers of the NPP to get me to contest, we agreed on certain modalities for the conduct of what they thought will settle matters,” he said.
He said they agreed for the election on February 27, 2016 to start at 08:00 hours but it began at 07:00 hours instead.
Nii Noi Nortey said: “There was no accreditation for delegates and my agent recorded a total of 715 votes, contrary to the figures being tossed around. These were the reasons that my agent refused to sign.”
During the February 27 polls, Mr Addison won with 396 votes and Nii Noi Nortey had 367 votes, hence his entering into the Klottey Korle parliamentary race as an independent candidate.
Source: GNA