It does not make sense to suggest that Nana Akufo-Addo should be returned unopposed by the NPP for the 2016 general elections, Head of the Political Science Department at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Dr. Amoako Baah has argued.

According to him, if Nana Akufo-Addo is truly popular, he had nothing to fear going into the presidential primaries of the party.

Some bigwigs within the party are championing a crusade for Akufo-Addo to be presented for a third time without any opposition. The Students Network for Nana Addo (STUNNAD) has for instance been putting pressure on the newly elected executives to support Nana Akufo-Addo’s presidential bid. The proponents argue the decision will avoid the acrimony that is associated with the party’s presidential primaries.

But Dr. Amoako Baah has told Joy News the 2012 presidential candidate of the party, like any other person, should be allowed to run and win the primaries fairly.

“It has to be an open contest, there is no way around it,” he emphasized.

He questioned, “if Nana Addo claims he is very popular, then what are you worried about? Let him run and win fair and square”.

He said an open contest will give chance to the unknown ones to showcase their worth as formidable forces for future elections.

“It makes no sense to me at all why they want to jettison the whole process and then say the party is democratic. What are they afraid of, what are they worried about? Democracy is not cheap. This is the best process, let the process go on,” he asserted.

Meanwhile, a former Chairman of NPP, Peter Mac Manu has called for an open contest to elect a flagbearer for the party ahead of the 2016 elections. This follows the call by presidential hopeful, Alan Kyerematen for the party to take decisions that will guarantee victory for the party in the 2016 polls.

He warned that members of the party should be allowed to make a choice for a flagbearer or risk a possible situation of the party becoming politically irrelevant.

Meanwhile, calls for Nana Akufo-Addo to be retained as flagbearer for the 2016 polls have been greeted with mixed reactions in the Ashanti regional capital, Kumasi – the party’s stronghold.