The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has elected Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia as its flagbearer for the 2024 general elections. Dr. Bawumia won the presidential primary held on November 4, 2023, with 118210 votes representing 61.43% of total votes. The Electoral Commission has declared him as the winner and the new leader of the NPP.

This development has brought attention to a past statement from former President John Dramani Mahama, who had claimed that the NPP would never allow Dr. Bawumia to be its flagbearer. Mr. Mahama, who was the flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the 2016 and 2020 elections, had made this remark during a campaign rally in the Northern Region in November 2016.

Below is an excerpt from an article published on graphic.com.gh that reported Mr. Mahama's statement:

President John Dramani Mahama has predicted that Dr Mahamudu Bawumia will be dumped by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) after using him for the party's dirty job.

He said he felt sorry for Dr Bawumia because he would never be given the opportunity to lead the NPP when the time comes.

Speaking at a mini rally of the NDC in Lawra Friday as part of his campaign tour of the Upper West Region, the President said opportunities in the NPP were restricted.

Using what he said happened to Alhaji Aliu Mahama as an example, President Mahama said, “Alhaji Aliu Mahama was Vice President under the NPP government. He served faithfully under President Kufuor and, so, when eight years was up and President Kufuor was leaving, the natural order of succession is that he should have been given the opportunity to lead that party but, 17 people contested him and defeated him."

"That is why I say NDC is a party of opportunity because if NDC wasn’t, who am I, a boy from Bole born in Damango, who am I to stand here and call myself President of the Republic of Ghana?”

President Mahama said in the NDC, opportunities were opened to all no matter a person's ethnic background.

Turning to his "northern brothers" ; the President said, "I feel sad when I see some of our northern brothers running around and also doing certain things. They will use you and dump you."

"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," he told hundreds of supporters of the NDC that gathered at the rally.

He added, "When the misfortune hit us and our father Professor Mills passed away, the Constitution said the Vice President should take over, I did. But then we were close to an election. If it was another party, they would have insisted that there should be a Congress and in that Congress I would have been contested and they would have given the leadership to somebody else."

Mr. Mahama's statement has been proven wrong by the outcome of the NPP flagbearer election, which has shown that the party has confidence in Dr. Bawumia's leadership and vision. Dr. Bawumia, who is also a native of the Northern Region, has been the running mate of President Nana Akufo-Addo since 2008 and has played a key role in the NPP's economic and digital policies. He has also been praised for his performance as the head of the Economic Management Team and the Vice Chair of the Police Council.

Dr. Bawumia will face the NDC's flagbearer, John Dramani Mahama, in the 2024 presidential election.