The Communications Director for the opposition NPP in the Northern Region, Yussif Danjimah has said that the party lost most of the seats in Northern Region because they refused to listen to their Regional Chairman, Mohammed Bantima Adam Samba, when he advised them during the parliamentary primaries.
Mr. Danjimah made these comments when he was speaking exclusively on radio Tamale’s drive time programme dubbed – Bugum Beni on Wednesday, July 23.
Revealing the party’s challenges during the campaign that led to the NPP losing 3 seats to the then opposition NDC, the director of communication stated that they couldn’t listen to the party’s Chairman, else, most the seats could be saved.
“All the seats Chairman Samba told us not to hold parliamentary primaries and we refused, have gone to the NDC. You remember when the regional Chairman advised us against such contest?”, Danjimah asked the host.
“Look at Zabzugu. We lost it by a little margin of not up to 500 votes. You know what cost it? The contest. Why? The incumbent’s lost of the primaries resulted in ethnic issues. That greatly affected us. Now something we had, has gone. Look at Yendi. Look at Mion. Have you seen them?”, he asked again.
But, the communication director was quick to add that the six (6) MPs who won their seats in the 2024 elections are true fighters, looking at the situation the party and the government found themselves ahead of the general elections in December 2024.
In 2023, the NPP Northern Regional Chairman in an interview with Abubakari Adams on Tamale based majority radio suggested that left for him, he would have wished the party’s sitting MPs were not contested, so that they could be declared unopposed.
According to the chairman, that could help the party save their resources and energy and give them opportunity to mend cracks, while paving the way for them to go into the elections with united front.
But this was vehemently opposed, with some saying he was doing that because he knew those MPs were weak to retain their seats.
It will be recalled that the NPP in the Northern Region went into the elections with 9 seats, only to come out with 6, leaving their main opponents, the NDC with 11 seats, with one going to independent candidate.
