FLASHBACK: 'They'll use you and dump you' - Mahama's 2016 'warning' to Bawumia

In the lead up to the 2016 general elections, then president John Dramani Mahama addressed the running mate of then candidate Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, cautioning him against sacrificing for the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

Mahama said during a rally at Lawra in the Upper West Region, that Mahamudu Bawumia was surely going to be bypassed by the NPP if an opportunity to lead the NPP presented itself, despite his hard campaigning in the 2012 and 2016 polls.

President Mahama, a native of Bole in the Northern (now Savannah) Region, lamented, “Sometimes I feel sad when I see some of our northern brothers running and also doing this. They will use you and dump you."

He referenced his initial route to the presidency when he was sworn in after his boss John Atta Mills died in office, stating that the NPP would have used rough tactics to replace him instead of allowing him naturally succeed his boss.

“Let anything happen today and let our brother Bawumia say he is standing for president in NPP. They will never give it to him I can assure you.

“If it was another party, they would have insisted there should be a congress and in that congress I would have been contested and they would have given the leadership to somebody else,” he stated.

President Mahama thus declared, “I am proud to be a member of the NDC because I know it is a party that opens opportunities for all people of Ghana irrespective of your ethnic affiliation or you religious affiliation.”

Bawumia emerges leader of NPP

Vice President Bawumia emerged victorious in the NPP flagbearer election held on November 4, 2023.

The announcement of Bawumia's victory was made by the Director of Elections at the Electoral Commission, Dr. Serebour Quaicoe at the Accra Sports Stadium.

According to the official results, Bawumia won with 118,210 votes, representing 61.47% of the total votes cast.

His closest contender, Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, secured the second position with 71,996 votes, representing 35.52% of the total valid votes.

Two other contenders made less than one percent each. They are Owusu Afriyie Akoto and Francis Addai-Nimoh.

Bawumia has formally succeeded Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as party leader, becoming the fourth flagbearer in the party’s history. He will lead the NPP into the 2024 general elections.

SARA

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