Samuel Atta Akyea, a former Member of Parliament for Abuakwa South, has warned the New Patriotic Party (NPP) against presenting a new presidential candidate for the 2028 elections.
Atta Akyea reminded the New Patriotic Party of Dr Bawumia’s performance in the 2024 elections, which he noted was in a difficult political environment.
According to Atta Akyea, internal assessments revealed Dr Mahamudu Bawumia was not a factor in the defeat, but rather voter fatigue after eight years in government.
Atta Akyea claimed that the ruling NDC would face challenges introducing a new candidate against Dr Bawumia, who he said already enjoys strong national recognition and credibility.
The former Abuakwa South MP warned that abandoning Dr Bawumia to present a new candidate would be a gamble for the NPP.
Speaking on Metro TV on Thursday, January 15, 2026, Atta Akyea explained, “I am trying to show the arithmetic that when the situation was terribly bad, the persona of the man attracted him the 41 per cent that he got in the election. Common sense will suggest that we show him again,” he said.
“We have to lift him up again and then add about nine per cent to cross the 50 plus one mark. That is how we get him as president,” he stated.
“By the time the NDC brings a new candidate against Bawumia, who is already marketed and whose figures are in his favour, I am telling you there is nobody they will bring who will have the national appeal and the doctoral appeal more than Bawumia,” he added.
He added, “If we decide to start afresh with new people and allow the NDC to use propaganda against them, that will be a lottery the NPP should not get involved in”.
Also, the Member of Parliament for Bimbilla and former Defence Minister Dominic Nitiwul has said Dr Mahamudu Bawumia is going to win the NPP’s primaries.
Dominic Nitiwul claimed that the NPP has no time to market a new candidate as the party cannot risk a first timer for the 2028 elections.
Speaking on Joy News’ PM Express on Tuesday, Dominic Nitiwul stated, “We have no time to market a new candidate. I can tell you, in this election, Bawumia is going to win,” he said, adding that this conviction is rooted in experience and precedent.
“I can tell you for a fact that in this election [NPP primaries], Bawumia is going to win…just like Akufo-Addo won for a second time in 2010 and then for a third time in 2014, Bawumia is going to win. That is not to take away anything from another candidate, whether it’s Ken, Bryan, Adutwum or Kwabena Agyapong, it’s not to take anything away from that candidate,” he said.
He added, “All I can say is that it has been marketed enough. We don’t have time to market a new candidate. He has shown that he’s very competent, not corrupt, and there’s nothing to find about Bawumia anymore”.
“Whatever the NDC wants to say, they have said it already and the assessment Ghanaians have done it already. We don’t have the time to change all the billboards and change every other thing.”
Nitiwul further stated, “Bawumia is going to be the candidate who is the second timer; all other candidates on the ballot in 2028, especially the major candidates, including the NDC, will be the second timer.”
“We cannot risk having our own candidate be a first timer. We can’t as an NPP, when you can get somebody who is the second time, and the person will win you the elections, we cannot risk it.”
“And the difficulty for NPP is that we will, we should never lose in 2028 because it will be disastrous for us.”