NDC Chairman Collapses Over 7 Votes  

Nana Toku
Nana Toku, Western Regional Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), collapsed and had to be resuscitated when it became evident that he had lost his position by seven votes during the party's regional congress last Wednesday.

Reports say the ousted chairman could not believe that he had lost his position and therefore called for a recount of the votes but when it became clear that the figures remained the same, and that he was still down by seven votes, he started sweating profusely and in the process, slumped into the hands of a police officer who was standing by his side.

'But for the timely intervention of the police personnel, our former chairman would have fallen flat on the ground,' an eyewitness told DAILY GUIDE .

The incumbent chairman, who was so confident of retaining the Western Regional chairmanship position, according to sources, collapsed after realizing that his close contender, Michael Aidoo, popularly called Big Aidoo, had beaten him by that small margin.

Michael Aidoo polled 133 votes while Nana Toku garnered 126 votes.

DAILY GUIDE gathered that after recovering from the shock, Nana Toku embraced the newly-elected regional chairman and congratulated him on emerging the winner.

A supporter of the new chairman stated, 'The camp of Nana Toku really wanted to prove a point, but we have shocked them, we have dismayed them, we have proved that we are stronger.'

He said, 'We the supporters of Big Aidoo really worked. We tried to whip up voter enthusiasm. We went to the delegates to explain to them what Big Aidoo could do. But we heard some people distributed laptops and GH¢500 to the delegates.'

About 55 members of the NDC in the region, cleared by the vetting committee, contested the eight executive positions.

Big Aidoo thanked the delegates for the confidence reposed in him and promised to increase the party's seats in the region with the help of the other elected executive members in 2016.

He indicated that the crucial nature of the 2016 polls required a reoriented mind-set to lead the party in the region described as a 'swing region.'

Youknows Mohammed, a youth activist of the party, won the youth organizer position, while Robert Agyekum and Abizi Mokeh were elected the 1 st  and the 2 nd  deputy youth organizers respectively.

The incumbent women's organizer, Anita Annan, retained her position as she polled 33 votes to beat her only contender, Anita Baffoe Bonney, who polled 24 votes.

Joseph Nelson won the regional secretary slot while Japhet Baidoo, the regional NADMO, was elected regional organizer of the party.

The incumbent deputy women's organizer, Araba Tagoe, also retained her position.

From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi