The Member of Parliament for Karaga, Dr Mohammed Amin Adam, has cautioned that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) risks a prolonged stay in opposition if it fails to retain Dr Mahamudu Bawumia as its flagbearer for the next presidential election.

Speaking in an interview on the JoyNews AM Show on Wednesday, January 7, Dr Amin Adam argued that the party’s own history shows a clear pattern of success when candidates are given a second opportunity after an initial electoral defeat.

He cited the experiences of former Presidents John Agyekum Kufuor and Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, both of whom lost their first presidential bids but went on to win after being maintained as candidates by the party.

“We repeated Kufuor and Akufo-Addo for a second time, and they won. So why shouldn’t we repeat Bawumia? If we presented Bawumia the first time and he lost, do we now want to experiment with a different candidate and risk another defeat?” he questioned.

Dr Amin Adam warned that abandoning Dr Bawumia in favour of a new candidate could hand a strategic advantage to the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).

He noted that although former President John Dramani Mahama may not contest again, he is likely to throw his weight behind a new NDC candidate, backed by significant resources.

“If we are not careful and we begin to experiment, even when the NDC experiments with a new candidate and wins, we could end up in opposition for 12 years,” he cautioned.

According to the Karaga MP, such an outcome could have devastating consequences for the party’s cohesion and long-term viability, stressing that retaining Dr Bawumia remains the safest path to regaining power.