By Nadia Ntiamoah
Former General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), John Boadu, has been elected National Chairman of the party, emerging from a fiercely contested race at the NPP’s National Delegates Conference held at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium in Kumasi.
The 56-year-old politician secured 2,888 votes to defeat former Energy Minister Boakye Agyarko, who obtained 2,048 votes, while former National Chairman Paul Afoko polled 490 votes.
Former Greater Accra Regional Chairman Sammy Crabbe, who was also on the original ballot, subsequently withdrew from the contest and threw his support behind Mr Boadu.
The declaration of the results triggered jubilant scenes among Boadu’s supporters at the congress grounds, marking his return to the centre of the NPP’s national leadership after several years of playing prominent roles within the party.
Boadu’s victory follows a highly competitive campaign in which the four aspirants sought to convince more than 7,000 delegates that they were best positioned to lead the party through its reorganisation and prepare it for the 2028 general election.
His victory was significantly boosted by the last-minute decision of Sammy Crabbe to step aside and endorse his candidature.
Crabbe urged his supporters to back Boadu, describing the decision as part of efforts to consolidate support around a candidate capable of leading the party into its next phase.
From General Secretary to National Chairman
Boadu is not new to the NPP’s national leadership. He served as General Secretary from 2018 to 2022, during a period when the party was in government under former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
His experience at the national level, coupled with his long-standing involvement in party organisation, became a central feature of his campaign as he sought the chairmanship.
He now inherits the responsibility of leading a party that has entered a period of internal rebuilding following its defeat in the 2024 general election.
The NPP is currently in opposition, while Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has been retained as the party’s presidential candidate for the 2028 election after winning the party’s presidential primary in January 2026.
The new National Chairman is therefore expected to work closely with Dr Bawumia, the newly elected national executives, Members of Parliament, regional and constituency executives and the grassroots structures to restore the party’s organisational strength.
Victory comes after major constitutional changes
Boadu’s election followed the approval of a number of proposed amendments to the NPP constitution at the conference.
One of the most significant amendments concerns the question of who should be recognised as the political leader of the party.Under the approved proposal, when the NPP has an elected presidential candidate, that presidential candidate becomes the leader of the party.
When the party is in government, the President remains the party leader until a new presidential candidate is elected.The change effectively clarifies the relationship between the party’s national executives and its presidential candidate, with Dr Bawumia now occupying the position of political leader as the NPP’s elected presidential candidate for 2028.
