President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has formally handed over the leadership of the ruling New Patri­otic Party (NPP) to his Vice, Alhaji Dr Mahamudu Bawumia.

This follows Dr Bawumia’s election as the flagbearer of the party for the 2024 general election on Saturday.

He polled 118,210 votes representing 61.43 per cent of the total vote cast to beat his closest contender, Ken Ohene Agyapong who garnered 71,996 repre­senting 37.41 per cent.

The election of the Vice President as the leader of the NPP makes him the first non-Akan to be ele­vated to that position, since the establishment of the party some 30 years ago, and he will lead the party over the next four years.

In all, four persons contested in the elections which has been described as one of the fiercest presidential contest in the annals of the party’s history and they included; Ken Ohene Agyapong, Alhaji Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, Dr Afriyie Akoto and Francis Addai-Nimoh.

Handing over the mantle of leadership to Dr Bawumia at the party’s result declaration rally at the Accra Sports Stadium, Pres­ident Akufo-Addo said the NPP still remained the best choice for Ghanaian as such all members of the NPP must work hard to ensure that the party is retained.

He said the 2024 presidential election was not going to be a walk in the park, however, with unity among the leadership as well as the rank and file, the party could make history by breaking the eight.

The visibly elated President said “with unity and determination, the party will defeat the NDC and John Mahama for the third consecutive time.”

He said Ghanaians could not afford to hand over the leadership of the country back to former President John Dramani Mahama and charged on all members of the party to ensure unity to secure victory come 2024, stressing that “Ghana cannot afford the return of the NDC especially under the leadership of John Dramani Mahama.”

President Akufo-Addo com­mended the party for the peaceful manner in which the election was conducted.

“I want to thank every single NPP person here. For the last 16 years to 2007, 2010, 2014, 2020, you have conferred your con­fidence in me to lead this great party… you have honoured me, honour I cannot ever forget. You have allowed me to serve the par­ty and through the party to serve the people of Ghana. I have done my best, but I still have one more task to do and that is with all my strength all my energy to help the new flagbearer, help Mahamu­du Bawumia to win election of 2024,” he said.

On his part, the General Secre­tary of the party, Justin Frimpong Kodua, said the election of Dr Bawumia was not only historic, but also broke the jinx of a non-Akan leading the party.

“Not long ago in this party, someone made a statement that when it comes to NPP, there’s no way a person from the north can be elected as the flagbearer for the party.

“Today, what has happened is history. The NPP is no more and can never be tagged as an Akan party because today we have a flagbearer who comes from the northern part of the country that shows the natural character of the NPP,” he said.