<<Print>>

Call it a spillover of the outcome of Nigeria’s presidential elections and you may not be far from the truth as Ghanaians have been locked in heated arguments over possible recurrence of the Nigerian situation in Ghana come 2016.

While many, mostly supporters of the ruling National Democratic Congress have downplayed a replica of the “Nigerian situation”, members of the Ghana’s main opposition, New Patriotic Party, think otherwise.

Fanatics of the NPP are upbeat about their now 71 year old flag bearer, Nana Akufo-Addo, scaling pass the NDC’s relatively young President and ECOWAS Chairman, Mr John Dramani Mahama, in a Buhari-like manner.

Gen Mahammadu Buhari, Tuesday, made history by becoming the first Nigerian opposition leader to oust the ruling People’s Democratic Party since the country’s return to democratic rule in 1999.
The former military strongman, who ruled Nigeria from January 1984 until August 1985, taking charge after a military coup in December 1983, polled 15, 424,921 votes to beat incumbent President, Goodluck Jonathan, who managed to garner 12, 853,162 votes.

Even before the declaration of the official results of the results by Nigeria’s Independent Electoral Commission, there were heated debates in Ghana, particularly on social media, on the effect of the outcome of the election in Ghana.

Ghanaians who rooted for Gen Buhari argue that considering his age and Nana Akufo-Addo’s age, a win for him would boost the former Abuakwa South legislator’s chances of getting the keys to the Flag Staff House in his third and possibly last attempt in 2016.

They also argue that both President Jonathan and John Mahama ascended to the highest office of the land by ‘default’, succeeding their predecessors after their demise before subsequently winning main elections, hence a defeat for Nigeria’s incumbent President is an automatic loss for the ECOWAS Chairman come 2016.

But supporters of the NDC have kicked against this theory, describing it as warp and deficient in logic.

According to them, despite the striking similarities of the two oil-endowed West African Nations, its political dynamics are totally different.

They say, among other things, that while Nigeria’s ruling PDP has been in the helm of affairs since 1999, hence the wind of change was inevitable; same cannot be said of Ghana, which has had both NDC and NPP in government at a point the country’s history.

Meanwhile, some Ghanaians have also pointed to recent predictions by some spiritualists and men of God to console the twice defeated presidential aspirant of the NPP that he will surely achieve his child dream and equal his father’s record by winning the presidency in 2016.

Mallam Ustaz Jibril, who is credited with many predictions which he attributes to God and through his powers, recently predicted a massive victory for Nigeria’s opposition leader Gen Mahammadu Buhari and New Patriotic Party’s Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

The respected seer noted that if elections were held, both Gen Buhari and Nana Akufo-Addo would edge past incumbent presidents Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and John Dramani Mahama in their respective countries.
True to the seer’s words, the 73 year old former military strongman-turned-flagbearer ditched President Goodluck Jonathan in a keenly contested election, which observers have described as one the freest and fairer elections in the country’s history.

Likewise, Leader and founder of Glorious Word Ministry International in Accra, Owusu Bempah, have also predicted a win for the biggest opposition party’s flag bearer, Nana Akufo Addo.

However, following the outcome of the Nigerian election, many Ghanaians have been asking if Rev Owusu Bempah and Mallam Shamuna Ustaz Jibril’s verdict on Ghana’s 2016 elections would also come to pass, especially when other renowned seers have cast doubts about a Nana Akufo-Addo presidency.

Mallam Shamuna was recently quoted by sections of the media to have stated that per his spiritual calculation “Were elections to be held in 2016, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) will register the following results “Greater Accra Region, 70%; Ashanti Region, 88%; Eastern Region, 85%; Western Region, 79%; Volta Region, 35%.”

On the Nigerian elections, he said “Buhari’s All People’s Congress (APC) will register a marvelous performance in the forthcoming polls.”
“The APC will win in Lagos State by 53%, Kano, 70%; Borno State, 87%; Yola and Adamawa States 85%, Katsina State and Delta States 55% and 35% respectively,” he said.

Continuing, the cleric said, “Using the Holy Quran, I can predict that the APC will win 54% of the total votes while its rival PDP will get 38%.”
Continuing, however, he mentioned that “Goodluck Jonathan will seek to massage the figures in his favour, especially in Delta, Cross River and Ogun States. PDP will be involved in ballot box snatching in Port Harcourt which will be pursued by APC supporters.”

Mallam Shamuna Ustaz Jibril’s predictions on the Nigerian elections, many observed, has bolstered Nana Akufo-Addo and the NPP’s dream of supplanting the President Mahama and the ruling National Democratic Congress in 2016.

The NPP led by its flag bearer and running mate have in recent times intensified campaign interspersed with regional demonstrations geared at making government unpopular ahead of the ‘big kill’ in the next presidential election.

While many supporters of the NPP are optimistic that Nana Akufo-Addo will be third time lucky, some powerful and respected Ghanaian spiritualists have rejected claims that the twice defeated presidential candidate will win the 2016 elections, insisting that the NPP flag bearer does not have the spiritual backing of God to be president.
A Kumasi-based Muslim cleric, Sheikh Mallam Musah and Great Nana Azimbe, a great Psychic Master and Spiritual guru, have all given the 2016 elections a clean bill of health and have insisted Nana Akufo-Addo will be defeated for the third time.

“Another essential issue that I will want to discuss with you is the fact that during the 2012 general election, I indicated that Nana Addo will lose the election and will not be prepared to accept his defeat and a lot of critics called me and threatened me and also chastised me for that, and it finally came to pass. It isn’t that he is not knowledgeable enough to lead the nation Ghana, the Good Lord has not given him that destiny to Rule GHANA,” Mallam Musa stated in an email to The aL-hAJJ’s office.

Similarly, a Kasoa-old burrier based spiritualist, Nana Azimbe, in the run up to the 2012 elections advised Nana Akufo-Addo that “he should go to God in prayer and God will reveal it to him. The presidency as we speak is for the Johns, the current president is the last John. Nana AkufoAddo is not among those destined to govern this country.”