Tinubu Leads Obasanjo, Jonathan, Others to Mahama’s Inauguration

•President expresses readiness to work with Ghanaian leader 

• West African country gets first female vice president

Deji Elumoye and Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu yesterday led former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Goodluck Jonathan and as many as 10 State Governors to the inauguration of John Mahama as the new President of Ghana.

Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Adamawa State Governor, Ahmadu Fintiri, alongside governors of Taraba, Plateau, Zamfara, Delta States, Osun, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ms Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, UN Deputy Secretary General, Amina Mohammed and others were all guests of the newly sworn in President.

In his speech, Tinubu declared that the African continent would not allow any outside forces to disrupt the peace achieved by past heroes through their blood, sweat and lives.

The president, who spoke as a special guest at the inauguration of President John Mahama of Ghana in Accra, however, called on African leaders to guard against external forces infiltrating their ranks.

Mahama returned to the office he held eight years ago following his commanding victory in December elections. Now 66, he trounced the ruling-party’s candidate, Mahamudu Bawumia amid voter anger over economic hardship exacerbated by Ghana’s 2022 sovereign-debt default.

The new Ghanaian leader clinched 56.6 per cent support in a country where the margin between the two main political parties had previously been very slim.

“Today, I am here not only as the President of Nigeria, but also as an African in resolute support for Ghana and her people. This moment is a source of pride and honour for you, the entire continent, and its Diaspora.

“The sun is out, and the sky says daylight, but I see today a Black star rising high in the African sky. This black star shines over this nation, and its rays spread across this continent with a sense of shared history, hope, compassion, unity, and devotion to our common welfare.

“While others may seek to demean Africa and keep brother pitted against brother, that shining star reminds us of who we are. Better yet, it reminds us of who we can be. That star means that we shall always strive to work together.

 “Even when we disagree, we shall dialogue and discuss until we reach an agreement. Never, never shall we harm others and never allow any outsider to hurt us or disrupt the unity for which so many of our heroes gave their sweat, blood, and very lives to achieve,” Tinubu said.

The Nigerian president explained that both Nigeria and Ghana had succeeded in silencing critics through positive steps being taken to move people out of poverty and build a resilient economy at their own pace.

“This moment does more than symbolise another milestone in the evolution of Ghanaian democratic society. It lays to bed the question of whether Ghana and Africa are capable of democratic and productive endeavours.

 “Ghana has answered that question resoundingly. It is time that Africa’s critics stop forgetting the strides your nation, Nigeria and others have made by continuing to ask us to prove ourselves.

 “We have nothing to prove to anyone except ourselves. We have found the critical path to our success. We shall lift our nations out of poverty and build a resilient economy at our own pace,” he added.

Mahama, 66,  in the capital. Accra,  took the oath before some 20 regional leaders as he promised to lift the West African gold and cocoa producer out of the doldrums, after taking over from Nana Akufo-Addo, who served two terms in power.

Aside Tinubu, other leaders present included: Senegal’s Bassirou Diomaye Faye, Burkina Faso’s leader Ibrahim Traore, Kenyan President William Ruto, President Felix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Gabon’s Brice Oligui Nguema.

Presidents Julius Maada Bio of Sierra Leone and Mamadi Doumbouya of Guinea as well as former leaders and officials also attended the inauguration.

But Tinubu, who described Mahama as a brother, friend and man of patriotic vision and substance, expressed his readiness to work with him for the good of both Nigeria and Ghana.

He said: “Your new president is a man of patriotic vision and substance. He loves his nation and its people to the core. He believes that your nation has a mission and intends for you all to fulfil it. No one can ask more of a leader than that.

“President John Mahama and I share a deep friendship. My dear brother, I am here to work with you. You know you can count on Nigeria’s support and goodwill whenever needed. We are your brothers and sisters. The bond is strong and cannot be broken.”

Stressing that Nigeria and Ghana shared many things in common, including drawing inspiration from past leaders, he said, “The spirit of Ghana’s first President, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, is here today, lifting that star higher and higher.

Tinubu said: “Just as Ghana draws inspiration and a well of strength from Kwame Nkrumah and many of its past leaders, Nigeria similarly draws inspiration from its founding leaders, who not only fought for her independence but also cherished the close relationship between our two nations.

“It is always good when a friend and brother can visit the home of a close neighbour to celebrate his success and progress with him.

“Today, I am here not only as the President of Nigeria but also as an African in resolute support for Ghana and her people. This moment is a source of pride and honour for you, the entire continent, and its diaspora.”

However, the new administration faces the daunting task of steadying an economy beset by crippling debt and high living costs. Unemployment among younger Ghanaians is running above 20 per cent. Mahama promised to sort out the challenges firmly and timeously.

 “I am honored and humbled to accept the mantle of the president of the republic of Ghana,” Mahama said in his inauguration speech in the capital, Accra. “I’ll have the humility and presence of mind to take responsibility for any challenges and be willing to act firmly and timeously to resolve the challenges that we have as a nation,” Bloomberg quoted him as saying.

His running mate, Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, a former education minister, was also inaugurated as Ghana’s new vice president, making her the first woman to hold the office.

Once an investor darling, Africa’s top gold producer is just starting to recover from the economic crisis, after seeking a $3 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Inflation peaked at 54.1 per cent in December 2022 and has exceeded 20 per cent for more than two years.

Mahama, who led the country for five years until early 2017, said he would focus on restoring and stabilising the economy, improving the business and investment environment, making the government more effective and accountable, and tackling corruption. “There is every reason for hope,” he said.

Mahama’s National Democratic Congress ((NDC) is currently one seat short of a two-thirds majority in parliament, having won 183 out of 276 seats so far, according to the electoral commission. If the party wins a constituency where results are being collated for a second time following a legal dispute, it will secure the so-called super-majority, enabling it to push its legislative agenda unopposed.

“Today should mark the opportunity to reset our country,” the 66-year-old new president, wearing the West African country’s national dress, told a jubilant crowd decked in the green, red, black and white hues of his NDC party.

Energy radiated from Accra’s Black Star Square, as a sea of elated faces waved Ghanaian and NDC flags, chanted and broke into spontaneous dance to the beat of drums and the blaring honk of vuvuzelas.

The landslide comeback for former president Mahama ended eight years in power for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) under Akufo-Addo, whose last term was marked by Ghana’s worst economic turmoil in years, an International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout and a debt default.

Mahama, who led Ghana from 2012 to early 2017, had previously failed twice to win back the presidency but in December’s election managed to tap into expectations of change among Ghanaians.

“I’ve never been so proud to be Ghanaian,” said Akosua Nyarko, 28, a teacher from the southern city of Cape Coast. The energy here is amazing… This is the dawn of a new era!” Nyarko told AFP.

Mohammed Abubakar, a 50-year-old farmer from Tamale in northern Ghana, said he was confident Mahama would prioritise rural development.

“Coming here to Accra for this historic event is a dream come true,” the farmer said, adding that Mahama’s “leadership gives me hope that my children will have a better future”.

Kwame Ansah, a 34-year-old trader from the city of Kumasi in Ghana’s Ashanti region, said he was ready to support Mahama whom he called a “man of the people”.

The jubilant crowd wore the green, red, black and white of Mahama’s NDC. “I believe he will deliver on his promise to create more jobs and improve healthcare,” Ansah said.

The economy became a major election issue after Ghana defaulted on its debt and entered into a $3 billion deal with the IMF.

Ghana has only just begun recovering from its worst economic downturn in years, with inflation peaking at 50 per cent in late 2022 — although it has since fallen to 23 per cent.

With a history of political stability, Ghana’s two main parties, the ruling NPP and the NDC, have alternated in power equally since the return to multi-party democracy in 1992.

The country of 33 million people is Africa’s top gold exporter and the world’s second cocoa producer.

Meanwhile, presidential spokesman, Bayo Onanuga has said that the presence of President Tinubu at the swearing-in ceremony of Ghana’s newly elected President,  Mahama, would further deepen the relationship between Nigeria and Ghana.

Onanuga, who disclosed this to newsmen yesterday evening in Accra, capital of Ghana, stressed that Nigeria will also break new grounds with Ghana under the new president.

 “Ghana happened to get its independence first and Nigeria followed three years after and the two countries have had long time relationships so many things hold us together either musically or economically.

“Now the new president is President Tinubu’s friend, they have known each other for some years now and secondly, Ghana and Nigeria are like siamese twins and this relationship dates back to some four to five decades ago.

“That is why we are here to continue that cordial relationship between Nigeria and Ghana. And for the president to witness the swearing in of a friend, what I foresee is that the relationship between the two countries will be further deepened,” he said.

He added that Ghana, under its former leader, Akufo-Ado, also recorded laudable feats with Nigeria.

He said: “Even under the past leader, Akufo-Ado, this was the case , I can see us breaking new grounds under Mahama, I say this because there is also a personal relationship involved.”

Onanuga hinted that many challenges will be further tackled, thereby strengthening the relations between the two countries and leveraging on the two leaders’ personal relationships.