I went to prison for Mahama; I can wait till after his 2nd term – Atubiga

Stephen Atubiga has withdrawn from the NDC flagbearer race and declared support for the candidature of former President John Mahama.

According to him, the decision was taken after he received counsel from Minority leader Haruna Iddrisu and other chiefs from the Northern region.

“This morning, when I met the Minority at the parliament house, some of the leaders spoke to me. NDC is like a family, some of them – the Minority Leader, Muntaka and others I look up to them as my big brothers.

“Some chiefs have come to me, some of them are in my residence right now, Imams have spoken to me that I should support my big brother John Mahama, I should support him to go for his last term and in 2024, they will also give me their support. I have gone to prison for him to be president so what do I have to lose as a free man if I allow him to go for a second term so that he can also support me if he is donea,” Atubiga told journalists at the party headquarters Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Goosie Tanoh, who has also filed his nomination told party executives that his supporters are being intimidated.

“I think that they appreciated the message, and I believe that it will probably influence some of them to vote for me. We are not interested in intimidating somebody or forcing anyone to vote for us. We believe that the fairer the playing field is, it promotes unity in the party, and any attempt to intimidate people and direct their attention to a particular formula is not going to work. It will create disunity in the party.”

“We are cataloging all this intimidation by various levels of the party and, so, at the appropriate time, we will release them so that everybody has an idea”,

Also, flagbearer hopeful Nurudeen Iddrisu has promised to chart a new course of empowerment for the NDC if given the nod to lead the party in the 2020 general elections.

According to the businessman, all appointees under his government will be mandated to sacrifice a month salary towards the party. The money will be used for investment in the 275 constituencies in the country.