Alban Bagbin, Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament
General Secretary of the People's National Convention (PNC) Atik Mohammed has advised the Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Hon. Alban Bagbin to review his decision to vie for the flagbearer position in the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Speaking on Peace FM's Kokrokoo, Atik Mohammed was emphatic that the time is not yet ripe for Hon. Bagbin to aspire for such a position.
The Second Deputy Speaker is believed to be nursing interest in leading the party to contest the 2020 general elections.
He's reported to have said in an interview that one of his dreams since "Form 5" of his educational ladder is to become the President of the Republic.
Hon. Bagbin's name has been widely mentioned together with other members of the opposition party - Mr. Ekow Spio Garbrah, Former Trade and Industry Minister and Hon. Haruna Iddrisu, Minority Leader in Parliament - who are all potential candidates for the position.
But according to Atik Mohammed, the fact that he (Bagbin) has a dream to become President doesn't make him qualified to lead the party to the 2020 contest.
“When we were all growing up, everybody had a dream. Some even, along the line, changed dreams and so on, and so forth. But the fact that you dreamed about it doesn’t mean you’re best fit to become a President…There’s more to becoming a President than merely having a “form 5” dream," he advised.
To Atik, the suitable candidate to lead the NDC into 2020 is former President John Dramani Mahama.
He noted that the opposition party will be riding on the legacy of the former President to campaign during the elections and so it is best to elect him as the party's Presidential candidate.
He advised the NDC not to make any mistake by selecting a different candidate because Mr. Mahama is "their best bet against Nana in 2020” asking the NDC, “in 2020, what are you going to run on? It’s his legacy that you will run on. So, who will better sell the legacy than the owner of the legacy himself…He’s the most popular amongst all the names that have been mentioned so far”.
