A former presidential hopeful for the NDC Stephen Atubiga has revealed a secret about former president John Mahama. According to the founder of National Liberation Congress (NLC), anyone who attempts to contest John Mahama will lose. He was speaking with Kofi Adoma on Kofi TV monitored by CitizenOne when he made this comment.
Explaining himself better Stephen Atubiga said John Mahama is like a god in the NDC. He insisted the man has 100% support of the rank and file of the party because they consider him a blessing. This is why anyone who contest him to become the flag bearer of the party loses.
Atubiga stated that in 2016 and 2020, there were faces in the NDC who wanted to unseat John Mahama because they too wanted to become presidents including himself. But upon a second thought they realise they couldn't defeat Mahama. So they approached the founder of the party late Jerry John Rawlings to ask John Mahama to step down. Unfortunately Rawlings did not heed to their plea. Instead, he advised them to put up a good message while promising to ensure fair treatment to all aspirants. Atubiga added that other aspirants decided to pull out at the last minute leaving him (Atubiga) alone to contest. He said the embarrassment he received at the hands of the delegates he was supposed to convince made him to back down as well.
Below are excerpts of the interview.
“The day my older brother, John Dramani Mahama, said he was coming was the end of the dreams of every NDC candidate who wanted to be President because John Dramani Mahama is so blessed in the NDC.
The man can win at any time to run the NDC internally. Even if he is asleep, they would still vote for him. It’s a gift God granted him", Atubiga stated.
On party financing and cost of managing a party, this is what Atubiga has to say
“Any socialist-democratic party whose members cannot afford to pay a registration fee to participate in internal elections with their salary from four months to a year, then that party is no longer socialist but a capitalist party. We lost social intervention programs that we should have done as a party. Even if you can’t build capacity, at least get the youth involved. There is no hope for a young man in NDC today.
What I am saying is that GHC 400,000 for a member as filing fee for the post of president of an opposition party was too much. When he was president it was GHC 50,000 and he went unopposed, but when we went into opposition he made it to GHC 400,000. So what do you mean? It means you are sowing the seeds of corruption in the party because nobody has that money".
Stephen Atubiga attempted to contest John Mahama in 2016. He later had to pull out citing unfair treatment by party leadership. He formed his own party the National Liberation Congress which failed to make it to the ballot in 2020. He said he will come 2024 with renewed energy.
Content created and supplied by: CitizenOne (via Opera News )
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