Nana Oye Goes For Mahama's Blessings To Win NDC Primaries

Nana Oye Lithur with Fmr Prez Mahama

Former Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Nana Oye Lithur, on Tuesday May 28, paid a courtesy call on former President John Mahama to seek his blessings to contest the upcoming parliamentary primaries of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in Adenta.

According to her, upon wide consultations with her mentors, advisors, party executives, constituents of Adentan and self-reflection, she has taken the decision to offer herself as a willing and able candidate for the Adentan Parliamentary seat.

Nana Oye earlier announced her decision to contest the NDC parliamentary primaries on Metro TV's 'Good Morning Ghana' program.

Since then, she has been meeting grassroots supporters and constituency executives as well as some party bigwigs to sell her ideas and to seek their support.

The former Gender Minister was accompanied by some constituency executives to the former President office in Accra.

She said the visit to the former President was "to officially inform him of my intentions and to solicit his counsel."

Nana Oye thanked the former President and assured him that, when the party opens nominations later this year, she will file for her bid to become a Parliamentary Candidate and subsequently serve the country as a Member of Parliament for the Adentan Constituency.

In his remarks, Mr Mahama welcomed Nana Oye decision and acknowledged the need to elect strong, opinionated candidates who would appeal to the general electorate during the 2020 elections.

He told the former Gender Minister and her team, the general elections would involve the entire voting public and not just the NDC delegates and that the party need to be strategic in its selection of parliamentary candidates.

Mr Mahama also asked the NDC to consider the strength, the character and track record of the aspirants to determine if they can emerge victorious in the general elections.

The former who is the NDC flagbearer to the 2020 election, noted that the overall vision of the NDC is to recapture power in 2020 and restore hope to millions of Ghanaians.

He cautioned party supporters to be vigilant, stating, "we cannot deny the uphill task, it will be to regain our majority status in Parliament. In this regard, it is essential to select the right candidates who can effectively handle the task of winning back the seats lost during the 2016 elections."

The former President recounted his initial dialogues with Nana Oye prior to her appointment as Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection under his administration, and thanked her for the relentless efforts in keeping true to the principles of social democracy.

So far two persons, Nana Oye and Mohammed Adamu Ramadan have declared their intention to contest the NDC parliamentary primaries in Adenta.

Adamu Ramadan was the party 2016 candidate but lost to Yaw Buabeng Asamoah of the New Patriotic Party ( NPP).

The Adenta seat is one of the swing parliamentary seats in the Greater Accra Region.