In June 2022, delegates of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) will elect new party leaders who will run the affairs of the party for the next four year.
The current leadership of Freddie Blay will come to a successful end and as expected in the NPP constitution, new leadership should emerge.
The current leadership if not for anything at all, retained the party in office in the 2020 election.
Every political party derives its strength from its base, especially its youth base. Statistics available indicates that a greater part of the country’s voter population is made up of persons between 18 and 37 years.
This is considered as a youthful population and a political party that is able to win the hearts of this youth population is most likely to win the next election.
The NPP has had vibrant and charismatic youth leaders in time past, talk of Mustapha Hamid, John Boadu, Anthony Karbo, Sammi Awuku and currently Henry Nana Boakye, also known as Nana B.
These youth organizers have served the party and country well and deserve all the honour.
But as the NPP prepares for the 2024 election, a new strategy will be needed, new ideas will be required as well as new approaches will be adapted. As the party tries to “break the eight” every strategy will be required to retain the NPP to make history as the only political party in Ghana to “score a hat trick”’ in an election.
If this must and will be done, then the NPP will need Yakubu Fusani Abanga to mobilize the youth of Ghana for this tall order.
I’m sure you will ask, who is this Abanga guy. Well let me tell you something small about the man Abanga A.K.A. “Obiaa bɛ didi” (Everyone will have a share).
Abanga hails from Enchi, in the Western North Region. His parents are from Bawku in the Upper East Region but has lived all his life in Western North and Ashanti Region.
He schooled in the Okomfo Anokye Senior High School in Wiamoase in the Ashanti Region.
In 2014, Abanga gained admission to read Political Science and Archaeology at the University of Ghana. Through his youthful exuberance, he carved his niche in politics and among his peers. Abanga proceeded to the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) to acquire Certificate in Administration and Management, Law and Governance and Petroleum Oil and Gas.
Political beginning, the TESCON training
Abanga was a representative of Jubilee Hall on the campus of the University of Ghana, Legon.
At level 100, Abanga a fresh student contested for the position of TESCON Organiser and won.
Similarly, in 2015, Abanga contested the position of TESCON President, but his candidature suffered a setback. In the process of resolving that setback, he met with the then NPP National Organiser, John Boadu who saw the enthusiasm, commitment and dedication in him. He (John Boadu) quickly took him under his wings – training him to become who Abanga is today. he calls John Boadu his “Godfather”.
His love for the NPP earned him the name NPP Abanga, a name that has stayed till now.
Despite his quest to become TESCON President suffering a setup, he did not give up. Between 2015 and 2016, Abanga became National TESCON Campaign Team Member.
Abanga believes that the NPP is the “mother of freedom” and the best platform to achieve development. No wonder the party has its slogan as “Development in Freedom”.
As someone who believes in democracy, development and prosperity for the broad masses of the Ghanaian people, he identified the NPP as best placed to lift people and communities out of poverty and shape their future.
No wonder his motto is “Obiaa bɛ didi”.
Abanga is a Chief Mobilizer, a trait he learnt from his Godfather John Boadu. During his days on campus, the National Organizer then, Sammi Awuku relied on, to mobilise students for the party’s fieldwork and for demonstrations.
Abanga marshalled students for the popular, crowd-pulling demonstration dubbed “The Dumsor Vigil” to decry the incessant power cuts under the John Mahama government.
He also effectively mobilized for the LET MY VOTE COUNT (LMVC) demonstrations against the bloated register prior to the 2016 elections which eventually brought President Akufo-Addo to power.
Abanga also mobilized students and residents in Greater Accra for the famous “Won Gbo” (we are dying) demonstration called to bring attention to the high cost of living and the penchant for the John Mahama government to excessively tax the already burdened citizens.
In the 2020 election, he contested as a Parliamentary Aspirant for NPP in Aowin Constituency but lost with a slim margin.
It is for the reasons above that he has been committed to the NPP. It is because of this belief that since 2014, at the start of his tertiary education, he has committed himself to grassroots mobilization and youth development.
As someone from a humble background, he acknowledges that access to free education, free healthcare, agricultural policies, infrastructural development and investment in human security needs to be deepened and widened for everyone Ghanaian. Abanga believes in youth development and youth empowerment.
He believes empowering the youth will make the country a better place hence his mantra, Obiaa bɛ didi.
So why this slogan? In a personal conversation with him, he told me “Bro, l want every youth in NPP to enjoy from their hard work, l want everybody who has contributed to the party’s well-being to benefit from it especially the youth’”.
The slogan Obiaa bɛ didiis a reflection of the personality Abanga wields, caring, compassionate, considerate and collective-spirited.
He holds the strong conviction that scholarships, business opportunities, public sector employment, travelling opportunities, welfare grants, should trickle down to the last person.
Abanga is the NPP’s best bet for the position of National Youth Organizer.
He has the ability, competence and commitment to lead the NPP youth wing to another victory in the 2024 election.
As the saying goes, cometh the hour, cometh the man and Yakubu Fuseni Abanga is the man. NPP Abanga, Obiaa bɛ didi pɛkyɛɛ.