…Says personal ambition must not supercede that of country
By Dele Ogbodo
The former Vice President who was also the flag bearer of the ruling party, in Ghana’s 2024 presidential poll, Mr. Mahamadu Bawumia, on Monday said he conceded defeat to his opponent and winner of that election, Mr. John Mahama even before the official announcement by the National Electoral Commission.
Speaking at a paper presentation in a National Conference: On Strengthening Democracy in Nigeria organized by the African Centre for Leadership and Development, said he took the decision to concede the election to my opponent even before the EC had announced any collated official results at the expense of personal ambition.
He said: “The presidential and parliamentary elections were held last month in Ghana.
“As an incumbent Vice-President, I was also the ruling party candidate for the Presidency.
“Before the election, there was the usual anxiety expressed by the opposition, as well as the diplomatic community and the opposition about the transparency, credibility and fairness of the impending election.
“The opposition claimed that the government had a plan to rig the election. I believe this is a standard claim by all opposition parties in any election in Africa.
“Frankly, notwithstanding the above, I as the Presidential candidate of my party, I was confident in Ghana’s electoral process, as the Electoral Commission had demonstrated fairness and transparency.”
The former Vice President, acknowledged that Ghana, had quite a lot of time on electoral reform over the years and therefore, I was confident of winning the election on December 7th based on the solid record of achievement of our government, notwithstanding the economic challenges that we faced.
According to him, when the polls closed on December 7, and counting began, we started receiving the results from our party’s collation centers across the country because we had set up a very elaborate scheme of collating our results and we started receiving the results from our collation centres.
On conceding defeat, he added: “By 3am on Sunday, it was obvious from the data that we had received our collation centres that my opponent, the former President, now President John Mahama, had decisively won the election.
I knew and by 3 am, I came to this conclusion that we have lost the election, I that it would take between 48-72 hours for the Electoral Commission to announce to collate and announce the official results.”
I was very cognisant of the tension and the potential violence that could result if there was a long-drawn-out process of announcing the results, adding indeed, the tension had begun to mount, he said.
He explained: “I therefore took the decision to hold a press conference at 9am the next morning to concede the election to my opponent even before the EC had announced any collated official results.
“You can imagine how incredulous some of my party members about decision to do this, they said that we have to wait for the EC.
“I was very confident that our data collation was correct. The EC do not have any different data from what we have collated and so, I believed that my concession within 14 hours of the close of polls was in the supreme interest of Ghana’s democracy and peace.
“The people had decided, and we had to respect their decision without equivocation.
“The politicians’ ambitions must never supercede the interest of your nation. Ambitious can only be seen by the politicians in two dimensions, you have a personal ambition and you also have an ambitious for your country.
“Most of the time when we talk about ambition we are only talking about personal ambition.
According to him, the ambition of the country is relative. And for the politicians they face these two dimensions of ambition, the self-ambition and that of your country.
For democracy to survive and thrive, he said, the ambition for the country must be paramount and must supercede the ambition of self, stressing that elections should not be a do or die affair, that is what we must understand, he said.
Bawumia, said: “The right of the citizenry to choose leaders in a free and transparent manner is sacrosanct and remains one of the most vital anchors of a true democratic dispensation.
“But choosing and/or changing leaders through the ballot box, though necessary, is not sufficient to guarantee a true and flourishing democratic culture.
“There are several other imperatives including often-taken-for-granted issues that, when combined with peaceful and credible elections, enrich and sustain our democracy.”
In his opening remarks, the founding Executive Director, African Centre for Leadership, Strategy & Development (Centre LSD), Dr. Otive Igbuzor, said the conference is geared to towards Strengthening Nigerian Democracy.
He said: “This gathering marks not just an event, but the launch of a crucial initiative aimed at tackling the pressing challenges that threaten the very foundation of democracy in our country.
“As conveners, we have assembled to address the complexities and setbacks Nigeria’s democratic system currently faces, with the purpose of finding actionable solutions that can restore and strengthen our national governance.”
According to him, the very purpose of this conference lies in a vision for a democracy that is genuine, resilient, and inclusive, adding that as many of us know, Nigeria’s democratic journey, though spanning 25 years of uninterrupted civilian rule, is beset by structural and functional flaws.
“These range from electoral malpractices, ineffective political parties, and weakened governance structures to pervasive corruption and a concerning erosion of public trust. Despite decades of democratic practice, the realities faced by Nigerians today often reflect disillusionment rather than hope.
“The goal of this conference, therefore, is to reignite hope, rebuild trust, and lay out a road map toward a strengthened democratic system that serves all Nigerians with integrity and accountability.” He said
