By Henry Oduah

Ghana’s former Vice President, Mahamudu Bawumia, has revealed why he conceded defeat to John Mahama during the 2024 presidential election, emphasising that the decision was made to preserve national peace and stability.

Bawumia, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) candidate, faced Mahama, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) standard-bearer. At the time of his concession, Bawumia had secured 42.64% of the votes (738,493) while Mahama had garnered 56.39% (976,644). Final results later confirmed Mahama’s victory with 56.55% of the votes against Bawumia’s 41.6%.

Speaking on Monday at a national conference on strengthening democracy in Nigeria, Bawumia explained that he chose to concede early after observing rising tensions following the election.

“By 3 am on Sunday, it was obvious from the data that my opponent, former President Mahama, had decisively won the election,” he said.

Despite believing in his chances of victory due to the government’s record of achievements, Bawumia said vote tallies from his party confirmed Mahama’s lead before the Electoral Commission announced the official results.

Bawumia further highlighted his confidence in Ghana’s electoral process which he said had consistently demonstrated fairness and transparency.

“I knew it would take between 48-72 hours for the electoral commission to announce the official results.

“I was cognisant of the tension and potential violence that could result if there was a long-drawn-out process of announcing the results,” he explained.

To prevent unrest, Bawumia announced his concession within 14 hours of polls closing, holding a press conference at 9 am the next morning.

The people had decided and we had to respect their decision without equivocation,” he said.