Step down for Alabi – Osae to Mahama

Governance expert Dr Eric Oduro Osae has called on former president John Mahama to give up his ambition of becoming president for a second time on the ticket of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and rather throw his weight behind fellow flag bearer contender, Professor Joshua Alabi.

Mr Mahama, on Thursday, 23 August 2018, presented his official letter of intent to run for the flag bearer position ahead of the 2020 elections.

His entry into the NDC race brings to an end all the speculations and debate surrounding his political career.

Apart from the former Vice-Chancellor of the University for Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA), Prof. Alabi, Mr Mahama will be running against 9 other aspirants, including: Former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Sylvester Mensah; former Trades and Industries Minister, Ekwow Spio Garbrah; Cape Coast South MP, Kweku Ricketts-Hagan; and PNDC/NDC stalwart Goosie Tanoh.

The rest are: Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin; Handyman Stephen Atubiga, private legal practitioner Elipklim Agbemava, Mr David Doste Kwame Kuwadah and a banker and oil and gas consultant, Nurideen Iddrisu.

Speaking to Valentina Ofori-Afriyie on 505 on Class91.3FM on Thursday, 23 August 2018, Dr Osae said he believes the NDC will be better off facing the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the 2020 elections with Professor Alabi as its candidate.



He said: “John Mahama is the most marketed candidate in the NDC, he is one of the easiest to be marketed and then NDC will not incur a lot of cost marketing him. It may be easy for him to win but the margin is not going to be that wide.

“But I would say that for the supreme interest of the party and the future of the party, if he can, on his own accord, step down and allow somebody else to lead the party, I think that would be better, and of all the candidates, one person who is coming up strongly is Prof. Joshua Alabi because of the constituency he holds because of the way he’s been accepted by the fraternity and the fact that he’s able to attract floating voters, if they give Prof. Joshua Alabi the nod, he would be able to cause a lot of stir in the political landscape in Ghana.”