A member of Ghana’s bid committee for the AFCON 2017 tournament, Lepowura Mohammed Nurudeen Jawula, remains optimistic about hosting the tournament.

On Monday, Ghana's chances were given a boost after Egypt officially pulled out of hosting rights but the North African giants threw their weight behind Algeria's bid.
 
With the final decision to be made on April 8, Ghana now has Algeria and Gabon to beat for the right to host the prestigious African football tournament.
  
“Egypt actually didn’t really constitute a threat because of aspects of political instability. To host the Nations Cup your country must be politically stable,” said Lepowura in an interview with Joy Sports.

“Against Algeria, I think they will not be able to take the competition away from us because they have their own problems in the North African sector. And the fact that a number of North African countries have pulled out so many times will not give CAF the confidence to give the competition to another North African country."

Lepowura Alhaji Jawula says Ghana stands a good chance winning the bid to host the competition because of its intense lobbying.

“If you put us against Gabon, what I can say is that it will not be realistic to give the competition to Central African countries three times in a row," the administrator said, referring to the hosting of the Afcon in the sub-region in 2012 (Gabon and Equatorial Guinea) and in the most recent edition.

“There are so many things that will work for us so I’m optimistic we will win the bid to host the competition.”  

Ghana submitted a bid to host the tournament in 2017 after initial host Libya was hit by political crises.