Former president John Dramani Mahama has said only God chooses leaders, in response to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s pronouncement that the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) will remain in opposition for a long time.

Addressing the chiefs and people of Somanya as part his three-day tour of the Eastern Region last week, Nana Akufo-Addo predicted that the NDC would remain in opposition for a very long time.

But addressing delegates of the NDC at Bekwai during the second phase of his Ashanti Regional campaign tour, Mr Mahama, on Monday, 26 November 2018 said God is bigger than everybody including Nana Akufo-Addo while expressing optimism that God will grant the NDC victory in the 2020 elections.

“When we started our campaign, the president said he would not respond to presidential aspirants but he has since started responding to us and at Somanya, he said NDC would not come to power again, but I say that he is not God, as only God chooses a leader and God is big, so, we are hopeful that the NDC will win the 2020 general elections,” Mr Mahama said.

The former president said as a way of responding to the NDC, the Akufo-Addo government has begun the vetting of small-scale miners to enable them to resume work.

He, however, urged the government to expedite action on the vetting process to enable the miners to go back to work.

Mr Mahama also bemoaned the decision by the government to, according to him, abandon the Bekwai Hospital, which, he said was started by the NDC government with funding for its completion.

He urged the government to pay the contractor to continue the project and assured the party that the next NDC government will make it a priority to complete the hospital if the NPP fails to do so.

On the upcoming NDC flag bearer elections, Mr Mahama urged the delegates to vote for him to enable him to wrest power back from the NPP.