Managing Director of the State Transport Corporation (STC), Nana Akomea, says Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia’s candidacy as the NPP’s flagbearer in the upcoming 2024 general elections gives the party a fighting chance to neutralise the NDC in the north.

According to him, the Vice President’s candidacy nullifies the long-propagated notion that the NPP is a narrow minded exclusive party for a particular group of people.

Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show, he stated that Dr. Bawumia brings diversity and inclusivity to the brand image of the party.

“He gives the party a chance to diversify the branding; he gives us the opportunity to have a much more inclusive branding for the party. Over the period we’ve always had leadership from a certain group and this is the first time we’ve gone outside the group so it gives us a more inclusive image,” he said.

Nana Akomea also believes that the Vice President’s candidacy is more likely to deal a devastating blow to the NDC’s electoral prospect in the northern regions.

He noted that since Dr. Bawumia’s vice presidential and now presidential candidacy, the NPP’s fortunes in the north have grown significantly to the extent of even beating the NDC in the parliamentary elections.

“Bawumia erases that propaganda and he gives us a fighting chance to neutralize the NDC in one of their strongholds which is the north. And if you look at the northern region, the NPP is now the majority party in the northern region. When the seats became 31 seats for the 2012 elections, NPP had ten and the NDC had the rest. I think there was one independent out of the 31 seats.

“As we speak today, NPP has 16 seats and NDC has 15. Who would have imagined that the NPP would today be the majority party in the northern region, but we are. And when you look at the presidential vote from 2008, it’s been going up for the number of constituencies the NPP has been winning since 2008 in the north, now we have almost shared it.

“We’ve won in about 14 and the NDC won 17 constituencies so we’re inching up the presidential, for the parliamentary we’ve taken over. And if you look at Bawumia’s home constituency, Walewale, we won it for the first time in 2012 and we’ve still retained it as our seat.

“So he gives us the best opportunity to give the NDC a showdown in some of their strongholds particularly in the north. And we also hope that in the zongos he’ll also give them a showdown. And if he’s able to neutralize the NDC in two of their strongholds that gives us a fighting chance to retain power,” he stated.