Akwasi Addai aka Odike, presidential candidate of the United Progressive Party (UPP), has criticised President John Mahama for not being a listening leader, an unfortunate development he claimed has plunged the country into a myriad of challenges.

Without mincing words, Odike whose Toyota Hilux pick-up was seized by NDC activists on Tuesday disclosed that he was aware that numerous good counsel given to the president by some individuals to help solve the myriad of problems facing the country had been rejected by the president.

He said people like him had on countless occasions offered free advice to the NDC leader but the president refused to heed their counsel.

Odike, who was a staunch supporter of President Mahama, noted that he doesn’t feel comfortable about the deplorable state Ghana currently finds itself due to bad leadership, lamenting that all good advice he had given the president had fallen on deaf ears.

“What can I do if the president is not ready to listen to my free advice to help save the country from the path of destruction?” he asked while speaking in an interview with Kofi Asante of Nhyira FM in Kumasi.

Of late the UPP leader has been attacking the Mahama administration, leading to NDC activists, led by Appiah Stadium and Francis Dodovi, seizing a vehicle he was allegedly given by Ibrahim Mahama, brother of the president.

The UPP leader expressed surprise and sadness over how the citizenry have been suffering over the last few years, attributing the deplorable trend to bad leadership and the ‘stubborn’ nature of President Mahama. According to him, the country could have at least experienced some level of development by now had President Mahama listened to some of the frequent advice people like him (Odike) had given him in the past.

The UPP founder said even President Mahama could attest to the fact that “everything is not right with the country presently”, indicating that “even the president has openly admitted that things are tough for the country on countless occasions.”