Former Member of Parliament for Nabdam, Boniface Gambilla Adagbila, has defended Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia’s exclusive address at the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) National Delegates Conference, dismissing claims of bias against other presidential hopefuls within the party.
His comments come in response to concerns raised by some presidential aspirants who expressed disappointment over not being given the opportunity to speak at the event, held on Saturday, July 19, at the University of Ghana Stadium in Accra.
While the aspirants alleged that they had been sidelined, Dr. Bawumia was the only one allowed to address the gathering—an arrangement critics described as unfair and exclusionary.
However, speaking on Channel One’s Newsroom on Monday, July 21, Mr. Adagbila argued that Dr. Bawumia rightly deserved the platform, given his status as the party’s 2024 presidential candidate.
He cited Bawumia’s years of service to the NPP, particularly his key role during the 2012 election petition and his consistent intellectual defence of the party’s policies, as justification for the spotlight he received.
“When we talk of leaders, we have a leader standing up in different ways. A leader either emerges, or a leader is imposed—a coup, knowledge, skill. So Bawumia emerges. Bawumia emerges as a leader based on the circumstances. It is not like somebody is imposing Bawumia, and it is not like he is imposing himself. In 2024, you saw how it happened.
“We went for primaries, special delegates, and he was elected. So the vim is there. Because this is Bawumia, who started from holding this party in the Supreme Court, talking and receiving all the frustration, answering all the 1,050 questions of the Supreme Court and proving everything statistically with evidence. Bawumia has been very strong. He stood behind Nana Addo through his lectures, through his courts—that made us win the election thereafter,” he stated.
Mr. Adagbila maintained that Bawumia’s rise to leadership reflects the confidence party members have in him—not an orchestrated imposition.
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