In a now-deleted tweet, actor John Dumelo has expressed his admiration for his friend and fellow actress Yvonne Nelson, for declining to contest him on the ticket of the NPP in the 2020 elections.
John Dumelo, who was corroborating sections of Yvonne Nelson’s memoir “I Am Not Yvonne Nelson” , said the actress had indeed declined an invitation from a close associate of the current president to contest in the Ayawaso West Wuogon constituency.
Dumelo applauded Nelson for her loyalty, acknowledging her refusal to jeopardize their long-standing friendship over political ambitions.
“I remember @yvonnenelsongh called me sometime back before the 2020 elections to tell me someone extremely close to the current president had asked her to contest in Ayawaso West on the ticket of NPP. These were her words to me ‘John, I can’t do that to you, I told them no, I can’t throw away our many years friendship because of politics,’” Dumelo wrote on Twitter.
Ayawaso West Wuogon, historically a stronghold of the NPP, would have presented an intriguing political landscape where friendships and personal allegiances intertwined with larger party strategies had Yvonne Nelson agreed to the proposal.
In the memoir, Yvonne wrote, “Prior to the 2020 polls an influential man in the Akufo-Addo circles came to see me and proposed to sponsor me to contest the Ayawaso West Wuogon parliamentary seat on the ticket of the NPP.
The NPP had lost its MP for the area and one of the “wives” of the late MP won the byelection in 2019.
The byelection was characterised by violence and resulted in the formation of a commission of enquiry to investigate it.
She was lacing her boots to contest the seat in 2020. When I drew the attention of the emissary to the fact that the party already had a candidate, he said the fact that he was contacting me meant that they had concluded their plans and would do everything within their power to pave the way for me to contest if only I was interested.
I asked him to give me a couple of days to think about it, but I had made up my mind the moment he broached the subject. I was not interested in the offer.
Even if I was interested in going to parliament, who told him I wanted to do that on the ticket of the NPP? What if I wanted to go as an independent candidate? And was I going to allow myself to be someone’s political puppet? Once you accept to be sponsored by them, you lose your independence and they expect unalloyed loyalty from you.
This was something I wouldn’t do even if I was interested. This person was the president’s family member. And from the modus operandi of the Akufo-Addo “family and friends” government, I wasn’t going to be their conduit, even if I was interested in going to parliament.
Apart from the fact that they probably saw a formidable political personality in me as a result of the #DumsorMustStop protest, the other reason the NPP’s gods wanted me to contest was not difficult to discern.”
One crucial factor mentioned in Nelson’s memoir was the presence of John Dumelo as the National Democratic Congress (NDC) candidate for the same constituency.
“My colleague actor and friend, John Dumelo, was contesting that constituency on the ticket of the opposition NDC and they feared he could unseat the NPP candidate with his celebrity status,” she indicated
The NPP, recognizing Dumelo’s celebrity status and his potential to challenge their candidate, seemingly saw Nelson as a viable contender who could split the opposition’s support.
“Already, John Dumelo’s political affiliation had strained our friendship. We had had open exchanges on Twitter in the past and I wasn’t going to make things worse by openly contesting him,” the chapter read
However, Nelson’s loyalty to Dumelo and their friendship led her to refuse the offer, understanding that openly contesting him would strain their relationship further.
“I wouldn’t betray our friendship to satisfy some people’s political calculations. If I accepted the offer, I was going to do that because of the convenience of political power. That constituency is a stronghold of the NPP, the main reason John D,” she shared in the memoir
Yvonne Nelson’s memoir “I Am Not Yvonne Nelson” has shocked Ghanaians since its release and so far the likes of Sarkodie and Iyanya have been outed for their actions towards her.
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