I want NPP’s standard bearer ticket

Former Ambassador Dr. Nathaniel Barnes has expressed his desire to head ex-President Charles Ghankay Taylor’s erstwhile ruling National Patriotic Party or NPP. Dr. Barnes, ex-Liberian Ambassador to the United States, disclosed here that he will contest for the NPP’s standard bearer post and is hopeful of winning.

The former ruling party goes to convention in December with three aspirants for the standard bearer post, including incumbent leader Senator Jewel Hoard Taylor, Dr. Nathaniel Barnes Rev. Hananiah Zoe.

“I have the confidence of winning if I (Dr. Barnes) take the elections race for 2017,” he emphasized.  But the former Taylor loyalist indicated that whatsoever decision the coalition of Liberia will come up with he will actually adhere to it in spite of his decision to contest for the presidency in 2017.

Speaking with reporters recently at the end of the signing of an official protocol on collaboration between the NPP, Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) and the Liberian People Democratic Party (LPDP) in Monrovia, the ex-Finance Minister of Taylor expressed explicit confidence in the protocol uniting the three opposition parties, noting that the agreement will be implemented to the letter.

According to him, the parties are united on ideological grounds, not on personal aggrandizement. He said the giants have awakened, so no one should dare stand in their way because they are actually unstoppable.

Dr. Barnes, also a former presidential candidate in 2005, admonished his colleagues to remain focus, discipline and most importantly learn to trust one another as they have started the initiative of forging a united front.

He further reminded that there will be a lot of opposing forces that will want to infiltrate and break the bond among the three parties, but stressed the need to cohesively move forward with determination in order to succeed

By Zee Roberts