Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh (NAPO), the running mate of the NPP for the 2024 presidential election has come out defending a comment he made leading up to the 2024 elections.
According to NAPO, Ghanaians ridiculed him when he said God slept, but cited that the bible said there was a storm, and when the apostles went to Jesus, he was fast asleep.
He further quizzed Ghanaians whether Christ was not God?
It will be recalled that Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh (NAPO), ahead of the 2024 election, took a swipe at the then-opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) over its major campaign policy, the 24-hour economy proposal.
He asserted that the NDC’s 24-hour economy policy is impossible claiming that there is no country in the world where people work for 24 hours.
He argued that NPP people have to rest after work because even God, who created the universe, rests.
Speaking at a campaign event in Accra on September 24, 2024, NAPO said, “It is not possible. There is no country in the world where people work for 24 hours; even God, who created the world, rests at night”.
Speaking in a recent interview on JOY NEWS, NAPO defended his claim, citing the Bible.
The former NPP running mate stated, “People ridiculed me when I said God sleeps. But if you are a Christian and you believe in the Bible and you know the Trinity… then you know that God made himself manifest and came to live amongst us for 33 years, through a divine birth.
“And it was the same Bible that said when there was a storm, and the apostles went to Jesus, he was fast asleep. Tell me, was Christ not God?” he added.
Some netizens reacting to NAPO’s comments stated, “Instead of letting sleeping dogs lie, you went to wake them up. The first cooking wasn’t enough, so you recycled it. Eii koo”.
“Eii, though Jesus was asleep, he knew what was happening. How could Jesus, who was asleep, know what was happening? This means God does not sleep nor slumber”, another netizen stated.
One more netizen added, “GOD DOESN’T SLEEP, and Jesus Christ is God. Jesus Christ was not sleeping. His disciples thought he was sleeping, but he was not. His question to them why they were afraid is PROOF that he knew all that was going on with the ocean but kept quiet by MEDITATING to test their FAITH”.
NAPO, in that same interview, clarified another statement he made about “mo Kwame Nkrumah” remarks he stated in the run-up to the 2024 elections.
According to De Matthew Opoku Prempeh, he was taken out of context and completely misunderstood.
He argued that the public outrage that followed his comment was interpreted as an attack on Ghana’s first President.
NAPO further highlighted his remark in comparison to a football banter to emphasise that arguing that he was not attacking Kwame Nkrumah.
Speaking on Joy News’ PM Express, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh stated, “At that time, you can’t go into the evidence, so I made a statement ‘mo Kwame Nkrumah’, and I subsequently had to go to Nkroful and speak to the Chiefs there and explain the contest in which the statement was made,” he said.
“Because in politics, if somebody misunderstands, misquotes, or you allow your communication to be misread or to be misunderstood, you have to own it. So I owned it, and that is why I issued the statement,” he said.
He added, “Not that the context was wrong. I’m a die-hard fan of Kumasi Asante Kotoko. So if I’m teasing Olympic supporters and I said ‘mo Oly fuo no’, I’m not really insulting Olympic fans. I’m just upping Kotoko fuo because I am one of them”.
The former NPP running mate acknowledged, “It was totally misunderstood, and it generated a lot of uproar. Nkrumahists got furious, and I apologise to them,” he said. But he urged critics to reflect on Nkrumah’s own writings.
“They should go and read Kwame Nkrumah’s Last Days from Guinea and look at how he described his own Convention People’s Party (CPP). He said the CPP was dead. That’s Nkrumah’s own writing, so we don’t say these things out of lack of respect. You know me. I have friends everywhere,” he noted.
See the post below:
The bible said there was a storm and when the apostles went to Jesus, he was fast asleep. Was Christ not God? – Napo defends God sleeps comment during 2024 election campaign
— JoyNews (@JoyNewsOnTV) November 24, 2025
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