Flagbearer hopeful of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto has suspended his campaign tour of the Ashanti Region in honour of former First Lady, Theresa Kufuor.

This follows the announcement of the death of the wife of former President John Agyekum Kufuor on Sunday, October 1.

Having been Ghana’s First Lady from January 7, 2001, to January 6, 2009, Madam Theresa died at the age of 87.

Speaking to the media in Kumasi, Dr. Afriyie Akoto said he would have to return to Accra to mourn with the former president and his family.

He said his team had it in mind to start his biggest and final campaign in his home region ahead of the November 4 polls to elect the NPP's flagbearer for 2024.

However, the death of the former First Lady will makes the tour impossible.

"We cannot continue with politics when our wife has passed away.

"So, this week-long campaign to meet with delegates will be suspended. We will be going back to Accra to mourn with the former President and return after," he added.

The former Agric Minister is part of 4 politicians who will lock horns on November 4, 2023 in the NPP presidential primary.

He placed 4th out of ten aspirants in the Special Delegates Conference held on Saturday, August 26, 2023, surprising many political pundits and pollsters.

Over 210,000 party delegates are expected to exercise their franchise in the much-publicized November 4, 2023 presidential primary.

According to his earlier timetable, Dr Akoto was to meet with specialised groups of delegates of the UP tradition at different locations in the Ashanti region from October 2nd to 3rd.

Then on Wednesday, October 4, 2023, he was to scale up the interaction by meeting polling station executives, electoral area coordinators and constituency executives at a forum to be held in Kumasi.

The forum was to provide a platform for Dr Akoto, a former two-term Member of Parliament for Kwadaso Constituency, to further convince the delegates that he is the best candidate who can retain power for the party and address the myriad of welfare challenges confronting them.

The home-coming event was also to afford the delegates the opportunity to ask Dr Akoto questions pertaining to the future of the party, especially at a time where unity in the party has been questioned by political analysts.

Dr Akoto was to end his Ashanti Regional tour with radio  interviews on Thursday, October 5, and Friday, October 6, 2023.

The former Minister, who is number three (3) on the ballot paper will then move to the Northern Region where he will hold a similar exercise.

From the Northern Region he would visit the Bono, Ahafo, Eastern regions and finally return to the Greater Accra region to climax his regional tour.