Businessman and politician Robert Asare-Bediako, who was initially contesting the Ashanti Regional Chairmanship race of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), has opted out.

He stated that his decision was to unite the NPP ahead of the 2020 presidential and parliamentary elections.

“This will unite the party and make it stronger,” he said.

He further debunked assertions that he was coerced by some party bigwigs to step down in favour of the incumbent chairman Bernard Antwi Boasiako (Wontumi).

“There was no pressure on me to step down, I decided to step down for the sake of the unity of our party,” he said.

The NPP is preparing for its primaries to elect new executives to steer affairs of the party for the next four years.