The New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has revealed that members of his campaign team were against his decision to concede defeat in the December 7 election.
Dr. Bawumia formally conceded defeat on December 8, just hours after the vote counting began.
The Electoral Commission subsequently declared John Dramani Mahama the winner the following day, securing 6,328,397 votes, which represented 56.55% of the valid votes cast.
Addressing party supporters at his residence on Thursday, December 26, Dr. Bawumia stated that his early concession was motivated by his commitment to safeguarding Ghana’s peace and stability.
“So, even though the Electoral Commission had not yet pronounced [the winner], in fact some of my people in my team were saying, you can’t go out to concede, we don’t know if all this data is right, let’s wait. But I said, look, we know this data is right from our own system. You know, so if you wait, you build up more tension and violence could come because people would think we are trying to rig the election because that is the message that was coming, that we were trying to rig the election”, he said.