John Dramani Mahama, former president and flagbearer of NDC for 2020
- As Owusu-Bempah, Ephson and Shamuna predict wrongly
- Alabi, 5 Others calls rival to concede defeat
- Mahama urges party supporters to trust each other
- But Omari Wadie insists JDM’s win makes 2020 easy NPP
The unambiguous message in the results of the elections to lead the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) to wrestle power from the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) is that the Delegates have emphatically rejected six contenders and placed the flag of the party in the hands of John Dramani Mahama.
The February 23 verdict confirms the trust and confidence the party’s grassroots have in him as the man to beat the New Patriotic Party. Not only has the Congress failed to elect Ekow Spio Gabrah, Alban Sumana Bagbin, Prof. Joshua Alabi, Gossie Tannoh, Nurudeen Iddrisu and Selvester Mensah, they have ended up pathetically behind and was reduced to fighting for a paltry five percent of the total votes cast.
Mr. Mahama won the presidential primaries with an overwhelming 213,443 votes representing 95.24 percent of the total valid votes cast per the announcements by officials of Ghana’s Electoral Umpire.
Former Vice-Chancellor of University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA), Prof. Joshua Alabi came second with 3,399 votes representing 1.516 per cent while Second Deputy Speaker and Member of Parliament for Nadowli/Kaleo, Mr Alban Kingsford Sumani Bagbin, came third with 2,313 votes representing 1.032 per cent.
Mr Goosie Tanoh, a stalwart of the NDC, came fourth with 2,038 votes representing 0.909%.
Former Trades and Industry Minister in the Mahama government, Ekwow Spio-Garbrah came fifth with 1,457 votes which represent 0.650 per cent of the total votes.
Former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Mr Sylvester Mensah got 932 votes representing 0.415 per cent while businessman Nurudeen Iddrisu polled a paltry 519 votes representing 0.231 per cent.
Before the National Democratic Congress would set date for the election of their standard bearer, Accra-based Prophet, Isaac Kwesi Owusu-Bempa, stirred the pot some time ago when he gave a damning prediction about former President John Dramani Mahama. The prediction caused so much uproar that enthusiasts of the for leader of the NDC, on his behalf, totally rejected the disquieting prediction from coming to pass.
Rev. Dr. Owusu-Bempa seem to be enjoying a huge prophetic reputation but statistics show he is not better than a mere pundit. He gets it right not more than half of the time. He was sure John Mahama was going to struggle to win 60% of the total votes, because he saw Alban Bagbin troubling the former president in spirit.
Similarly, a Pollster and Editor of the Daily Dispatch, Mr Ben Ephson, is not new to controversy. The man praised for some outcomes of his polls also predicted and repeatedly published in his newspaper that John Dramani Mahama was going win the party’s flagbearer race with 65%.
Joining the committee of predictors is, Sheikh Ustaz Shamuna Jibril, a famous Islamic Cleric, Numerologist, Philosopher who in 2015 and 2016 has predicted that the former president will be given the chance to lead the NDC into the 2020 elections. According to the cleric, former president Mahama will be able to win the NDC primaries by over 80 percent.
According Mallam Shamuna on Peace FM, John Mahama will be “a major threat to the NPP” in the 2020 elections.
We must give them credit for courage. Because in Ghana, prophecies, when they are prophecies, are naturally vague. Often times, we hear inanities like—many people will get married. Every December, we will get many lists from the big prophets. They will contain the coming of natural disasters like floods and wild fires. No one in their congregation has summoned the irreverence to tell them that these natural disasters have become part of the global calendar. After such a prediction, when the hurricane season comes, they will dust up their books of prophecies and wave them at us. And their fawning followers will sing alleluia to them and they will smile the smile of true prophets.
Despite the public outcry that trailed the prophecy, Owusu-Bempa, who is the founder of Glorious Waves International Ministry, reeled out more than enough prophecies for Ghana every 31 December Night.
Among the prophecies, the pastor boldly claimed that a former president, a first lady and Chief Imam were going to die.
The declaration of certified results by the Electoral Commission declares the certified results heralded by phone calls to John Mahama from Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, Prof Joshua Alabi, Nurudeen Iddrisu, Selvester Mensah, Alban Bagbin and Goosie Tanoh conceding defeat and pledging support to his candidature.
“Congratulations President John Dramani Mahama. Together, we win 2020”, Mr Spio-Garbrah’s message read.
“Congratulations President John Dramani Mahama. We will fight 2020 together”, Prof Alabi’s message read.
‘’ I have just telephoned HE John Mahama to congratulate him on his victory today and to express my sincere commitment to work to make his new term as the leader as successful as possible’’, Goosie Tanoh said
The former president called on the rank and file of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to trust each other and unite into the 2020 general elections.
Addressing party leaders and supporters at the Headquarters shortly after he was declared the winner of the flagbearer contest, Mr. Mahama also told members of the opposition party to shun the seeds of disaffection being sown by their political opponents.
“Let us be one, let us trust each other and let us not believe the stories that we circulated that one is trying to undermine the other,” the former president now flagbearer of the NDC told an enthusiastic gathering in the wee hours of Sunday, February 24.
But third Vice Chairman of the NPP, Michael Omari Wadie in an interview after Mahama’s decisive win in the NDC’s presidential primaries over the weekend said it would be easy to defeat him in the 2020 elections.
“We are not worried. We are only excited because they choose him, and it will make our work easier and that will also give us the power for a little longer than the usual eight (8) years. We want to remain in power a little longer and as long as it is Mahama, it gives us the confidence that we are winning the next elections,” Omari Wadie said.
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