By Akinwale Kasali
At close to 80 years of age, no one ever thought Ghanaian President, Nana Akufo Addo would be reelected Ghanaian President.
Former President, John Mahama, who threw in the hat for the Presidential Election had thought his clout and antecedents at the saddle would see him return to the Presidential Villa.But he lost again to the incumbent.
Akufo-Addo won re-election with 51.59 per cent of the vote on Wednesday. But deadly violence erupted followed the victory, pushing the West African country into a state of crisis.
The results follow a contentious poll that both candidates had said they were leading based on their camps’ tallies.
Five people were said to have been killed in election violence since Monday, police said, marring what electoral observers said was a well-organised vote.
The Ghanaian Police Service said it recorded more than 60 incidents at Monday’s vote, in which President Nana Akufo-Addo ran for re-election against his main rival, former president John Mahama, and 10 other candidates.
“Twenty-one of the incidents are true cases of electoral violence, six of which involve gunshots resulting in the death of five,” it said.
Independent observers this week congratulated Ghana for conducting largely peaceful polls, in line with its reputation as one of West Africa’s most stable democracies.
But tension arose as Mahama’s camp said tallies showed its candidate in the lead.
“There were issues on election day about the procedure of voting, then immediately after the voting there were complaints about the way the result were being sorted out,” Al Jazeera’s Ahmed Idris, reporting from Accra, said.
“What we are hearing right now is that in the city of Tamale there has been protests going on by the opposition party claiming there were some irregularities and attempts to subvert the will of people.
“We understand there has been an incident at the headquarters of the electoral commission, and we have seen in the last few minutes or so that the military police and other paramilitary organisation are ensuring that there is no breakdown of law and order.
