Paul Adom-Otchere, the host of Good Evening Ghana and former Board Chairman of the Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL), has said that Haruna Iddrisu and Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa are fighting over the NDC 2028 running mate slot.
According to Paul Adom-Otchere, both Haruna Iddrisu and Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa want to be the running mate of the current vice president, Prof Opoku-Agyemang.
Speaking on his Good Evening Ghana programme on December 3, 2025, Paul Adom-Otchere alleged, “Haruna Iddrisu, the Minister for Education, and Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, are fighting ‘gidigidi’.
Haruna Iddrisu speaking at Mawuli Secondary School, for their 75th anniversary, and he said that you cannot keep your hair and come to school, you remember that sparked the debate surrounding to keep the hair or not to keep the hair”.
He added, “The foreign minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, goes to his former school, hasn’t been invited as the guest speaker; he is part of the government, so he did not have to contradict the Education Minister. It was wrong for him to if I am Chief of Staff, he is the one I will punish. One minister spoke about it, even if it is not a government position, another minister should not go public against it.
Weeks down the line, Ablakwa comes to say the opposite, and in doing so, talks down to people whose hair is important. So, the Minister for Foreign Affairs is telling the Education Minister that his ridiculous analysis of short hair and having correlation to discipline, he does not understand it”.
Adom Octhere added, “Haruna Iddrisu is fighting with Ablakwa, and Ablakwa is also fighting with him as a political news reporter. I know why they are fighting. It’s for a very big prize, and they will not be fighting if the prize is not big. The tussle for VEEP in the NDC is what they are fighting about; both of them want to be the next Vice President if the NDC were to win in 2028, and they both want to be Vice President for the same Presidential candidate.
Prof Jane Naana has long had an excellent relationship with Ablakwa in Mahama’s first term. When she became Minister of Education, Ablakwa was her deputy, so during the first Mahama term, they forged such a tight alliance as deputy and boss.
Then, Haruna Iddrisu was working in the Trade. This vice president is close to Ablakwa and has come into the saddle. They won the election, and he is the vice president. Ofosu Ampofo hears that Johnson Asiedu Nketia, his nemesis in the NDC, is running for president, and he does not want that to happen, saying Madam is more competent than the party chairman.
Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo and Alex Segbefia are pushing Prof Jane Naana and Ablakwa’s work to gather the Volta Region for the vice president”, he added.
Meanwhile, Paul Adom-Otchere had earlier stated that President John Mahama has identified Ato Forson and John Jinapor as his preferred NDC candidates for the 2028 elections.
According to Adom-Otchere, John Mahama is backing Ato Forson following his performance in handling the Ghanaian economy as Finance Minister.
Adom-Otchere described the ticket of Dr Cassiel Ato Forson and John Abdulai Jinapor as the president’s ticket.
Speaking on his Good Evening Ghana show on October 31, 2025, Adom-Otchere alleged, “This is President Mahama’s ticket, from what we are hearing, Cassiel Forson, the finance minister… He’s been told that if he continues doing what he’s doing until the end of next year, he will be the anointed choice of John Mahama as the next flagbearer of the NDC”
Who is going to be his running mate, our good friend John Jinapor, member of parliament and minister for Energy. The two ways the NDC want to say they are doing well in government are one of them, energy, and the other is finance”.
He added, “Ato Forson will tell you that the cedi was 17, it is now 10, it’s a feather in his cap. He will tell you gold reserves have improved and petroleum prices have been stabilised”.
He further alleged that Cassiel Ato Forson has his eyes set on becoming the leader of the NDC.
“Cassiel Ato Forson is firmly focused on becoming the leader of the NDC, the presidential candidate of the NDC, going forward to the 2028 election, and his running mate is John Jinapor.
“John Jinapor, they call him ‘JJ’ in Parliament, and he’s the deal. The two of them, Ato Forson and Jinapor, are the president’s ticket. Forget about everything else,” Adom-Otchere asserted.
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