as a loyal opposition…" Just as Dr K. A. Busia had promised during the election campaign. Nonetheless, soon after CPP government tabling the motion for independence, the Asante Youth Association (AYA) sent a telegram to the Secretary of State for the Colonies on 13 August 1956 stating among other things that "since the C.P.P. Government have declared themselves unwilling to call for consultations before the Motion calling for Independence, [this] shall be considered by Ashanti as repealing the Order in Council of 1901 which annexed Ashanti to the British Crown. Ashanti shall then be Sovereign and Independent state within the Commonwealth." Despite the crushing defeat at the polls, the opposition continued to push for a federal union and made representations to the secretary of Secretary of State for the Colonies in London and called for a royal commission to look into their grievances and for a postponement of independence until it had reported. This time the British Government refused to indulge the opposition and rejected calls to postpone independence. On 17 September 1956, in response to a formal request from the CPP to the British Secretary of State to name a firm date for Independence, the Governor informed Nkrumah that 6 March 1957 had been decided upon. Amid scenes of jubilation, the news was given to the Assembly by Nkrumah on the following day 18 September 1956. The opposition modified their position and demanded constitutional safeguards in the form of regional autonomy and a second chamber among others. The secretary of state persuaded the CPP to negotiate and following lengthy consultations with the opposition, the Asanteman and the territorial Councils, the CPP published on 8 November 1956, what became known was the Revised Constitutional Proposals for the Gold Coast. While the government accepted a measure of devolution it limited the powers of Regional Assemblies and refused to accept the opposition's call for an undertaking that Ashanti's borders would remain inviolable. In response to the publication of the constitutional proposals, AYA ran a daily half-page advert in the Liberator (the mouthpiece of the NLM) from 9-15 Nov 1956 which declared "ASHANTI AND THE N.T.’S WILL SECEDE FROM GHANA". On 18 November 1956, the opposition NLM and the Northern People's Party forwarded a joint resolution to the Secretary of State for the colonies stating: "In view of the failure to reach agreement on the constitution we now ask for separate independence for