Former Minister for Information, Fatimatu Abubakar, has called on the members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), especially its leadership, to exercise caution in airing grievances about the party’s performance in the December 2024 general elections.
Speaking on Asempa FM on Friday, January 24, 2025, Madam Abubakar expressed her dismay at the public blame game that has ensued since the Party’s electoral defeat.
“What is unacceptable and, indeed, bad for the necessary efforts to regroup is to hear or read senior members of the Party, including active members of the 2024 campaign team, pointing fingers cautionlessly,” she said.
The former Minister noted that while frustrations are natural after an unexpected defeat, venting them publicly does more harm than good. “If you truly love the NPP, you will cover it when you believe it is naked. You will fix it when you think it is broken, and you will lift it up when you see it down,” she remarked.
She called on leaders and members to channel their concerns through internal mechanisms rather than the media. “Throwing accusations freely in public can only serve one negative purpose: build mistrust and disunity. What if those accused also decide to respond? They also have strong followings in the Party and beyond. But where will that take us?” she questioned.
In response to the Party’s defeat, the NPP’s National Council has constituted a fact-finding committee chaired by former Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Prof. Aaron Mike Oquaye. The committee’s mandate is to investigate the reasons for the electoral loss and recommend actionable steps to reposition the Party for victory in 2028.
She urged all members to support this initiative and avoid undermining it with divisive rhetoric. “We must all focus on reflection, regrouping, and recapturing power in the shortest possible time. But how we go about it matters greatly,” she said.
She also cautioned against using media platforms and social media to air internal Party issues, describing such actions as detrimental to the Party’s image and unity. “If you jump from radio station to radio station, TV to TV, social media to social media, to discuss all that you perceive to be wrong with our Party and play the blame game with it, ask yourself what is your motive and what do you seek to achieve?”
The former Minister stressed the need for collective action, reminding members that the Party’s strength lies in unity. “Heroes are not made from those who lament to lambast but from those who find the courage to lead in the needed effort to make the Party rise again. We rise together and fall together. But rise is what we must and shall!”
