President Mahama has chastised the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) for not selecting a competent northerner as its flagbearer.

Citing an example of former Vice President Ahaji Aliu Mahama, President Mahama accused the NPP for paying little attention to northerners.

According to him, the NPP has shown in the past that it has very little respect for northerners and therefore cannot be trusted.

The President made the remarks in Tongo when he resumed his camping tour of the Upper East region after suspending it for three days to attend to the victims of the Melcom disaster in Accra.

He said “our brother Aliu Mahama was Vice President for 8 years. I was Vice President for 3 and half years. For almost 12 years, we have tasted Vice Presidency. It’s no longer exciting. It’s no longer what we want.”

He said if the NPP wants votes from the northern part of the country, then they should put up Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia as their flagbearer to face-off with him.

“They want to win here, they should put him in number one and let two of us contest and then they will get something from here,” the president said.

Meanwhile, President Mahama has described the defeat of the republicans in the US elections as a good omen for the ruling NDC and an indication that similar thing will be replicated in Ghana in the upcoming elections.

According to him, anytime the democrat party win an election in the US, the NDC also wins in Ghana, making reference to the 2008 elections.

He said: “In 2008 polls in the USA, Obama won by chasing the elephant into the bush and later the NDC also chased the elephant into the bush in Ghana, and just this week, Obama has again chased the elephant into the bush, which will be replicated in Ghana in December.”

He said the performance of the NDC government in the last four years is enough evidence to encourage more Ghanaians to vote massively for the party in the forthcoming elections.

President Mahama said inspite of the increase in wage bills as a result of the implementation of the single spine salary structure, government is still economically solid to execute more development projects in the phase two of the Better Ghana Agenda.