A National Democratic Congress (NDC) communicator has dismissed John Boadu’s election as New Patriotic Party (NPP) National Chairman, saying he poses no threat to the governing party in 2028.
Hamza Suhuyini, a lawyer on the NDC communications team, made the remarks on Tamale-based Saganai TV, MyNewsGh.com reported. He pointed to Boadu’s record as General Secretary, a post Boadu lost in 2022 when delegates chose Justin Kodua Frimpong.
The exchange offers an early look at a line both parties are likely to test before the 2028 polls: whether losing an internal contest, or a national election, should rule a party official out of leadership.
Suhuyini said the NPP had been politically finished for a long time and that the new executives could not revive it. “They think the executives they have elected can resurrect the dead NPP,” he said. He added that some NPP supporters were unhappy with the new leadership and doubted it could return the party to power.
Haruna Mohammed, a member of the NPP communications team, said the NDC was in no position to make that argument. He noted that Johnson Asiedu Nketiah was NDC General Secretary when the party lost the 2016 general election, yet the party later elected him National Chairman.
Both records are more mixed than either side allowed. Asiedu Nketiah served 17 years as General Secretary, a period in which the NDC also won the 2008 and 2012 elections, before beating incumbent chairman Samuel Ofosu Ampofo by 5,574 votes to 2,892 in 2022. The NDC returned to power in the 2024 election with him as chairman.
Boadu, for his part, was NPP General Secretary from 2018 to 2022, which covered the party’s victory in the 2020 general election.
He won the chairmanship on 3 October 2026 at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium in Kumasi, polling 2,888 votes against 2,408 for former Energy Minister Boakye Kyerematen Agyarko, 790 for former chairman Paul Afoko and 41 for Sammy Crabbe. He succeeds Stephen Ayesu Ntim, who did not seek re-election. Kodua retained the General Secretary post with 4,486 votes, the highest tally of any candidate at the conference.
Flagbearer Mahamudu Bawumia has since congratulated the new executives and said no member should be left out of the 2028 campaign, whether they won or lost in Kumasi. In a statement on 5 October, Boadu pledged to reconnect the party with young people, including by restoring its presence on tertiary campuses.
He has said the new executive will work with Bawumia to strengthen the party’s organisation and finances, particularly at constituency level.
