Some delegates, opinion leaders and residents of Ablekuma West constituency are strongly lacing their boots to vote against anybody who would come forth to contest the incumbent Member of Parliament in the upcoming parliamentary primary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
Residents who spoke exclusively to this paper in a VOX POP interview on the upcoming NPP primaries said the Roni Nicol interest for the seat is a wrong move indicating that, they have already settled on Mrs. Ursula Owusu-Ekuful to continue leading them, advocating that, Roni should focus on his private businesses for the right time would come for him.
According to them, Ablekuma West has come far with development and it will only take an experienced hand like the incumbent MP to carry that progress further and not somebody like Roni Nicol who does not stand the chance of winning the main elections.
Although they described Roni Nicol as a fine gentleman, they said his experience in politics is too abysmal in fighting the National Democratic Congress in elections and winning the seat for the NPP.
They pointed out that, Roni Nicol will be a disaster for the NPP should he be voted as a parliamentary candidate to lead the constituency into the 2024 elections.
They also revealed that the NPP will suffer in losing the Ablekuma West parliamentary seat if delegates select Roni Nicol as the parliamentary candidate.
This newspaper’s visit to the constituency witnessed a lot of surprised revelations from teeming NPP members, party faithfuls and sympathizers who disclosed that Roni Nicol who has expressed interest in contesting the primary does not deserve to be elected as a parliamentary candidate for Ablekuma West.
They described Roni Nicol’s intentions as a sabotage to the chances of party in the tough 2024 battle ahead. The constituents are appealing to delegates not to vote for him because his win will make the NDC win the seat.
It would be recalled that, in 2016, Roni Nicol contested the Incumbent Member of Parliament (MP) for Ablekuma West, Mrs. Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, and was defeated in that battle.
Information is that, he is lacing his boots to contest for the 2024 elections but information picked on grounds has shown that, he would be in for another defeat, and in the event that he is voted at the primaries, he will lose the general elections and cause the NPP a lot at the end.
For the constituents, the NPP must do all it can to prevent the party from losing the Ablekuma West seat to the NDC, pointing out that, that can only be achieved depending on the candidate the party presents.
“Roni at this time, is not the best choice. Now, where the Constituency has reached, we don’t think Roni Nicol is the best person to continue the baton. We have a formidable, and an excellent MP who we trust to deliver in 2024 so we are still with her,” one delegate who wanted to be anonymous said.
Another delegate added, “The 2024 election is going to be a stiff election, it’s going to be brutally fought one. And Roni is not that strong and experience like that to lead us into such a tough battle, the floating voters in the constituency won’t remember him. We need a strong person to support our Presidential candidate to garner more votes here for him and the rightful person is Madam Ursula. Roni’s time would come but not now. Not this hard battle we are about to face in 2024”.
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) National Executive Committee (NEC) set January 20, 2024 as the new date for the conduct of the party’s parliamentary primaries in constituencies where the party has sitting MPs.
According to a release issued by the committee and signed by the NPP General Secretary, Justin Kodua Frimpong noted that nomination shall open on December 20, 2023, and close on December 22, 2023.
“The Party anticipates the full cooperation of all stakeholders in the conduct of the primaries and wishes all aspiring candidates the best of luck,” it said.