Why Yendi Needs Farouk Mahama Back in Yendi

The first thing to say about Dr. Farouk Aliu Mahama’s decision to run for Yendi again is that one can argue about many things in Ghanaian politics, but certainly not with 326 votes in a constituency that has a registered voter population of 86,122

That was the margin by which he lost the Yendi seat in 2024. He polled 30,441 votes, or 46.45 per cent. The NDC candidate polled 30,770, or 46.95 per cent. In a year when the NPP was deeply unpopular, when sitting MPs were falling like dominoes across the country, and when Yendi itself was divided by a split party front, Farouk came within 326 votes of holding on. That is not the record of a rejected MP. It is the record of a candidate who fought against a national tide and almost won.

So when he says, “I did not leave Yendi. Yendi never left me,” it is not just a clever line for the cameras. For many people in the constituency, it is the truth. After his defeat, he did not disappear. His supporters point to the Farouk Aliu Mahama Education Centre, which helped students pay school fees. They point to support for a young Yendi indigene studying medicine abroad. They point to the donation of a 100KVA generator to a community struggling with unreliable electricity. You may call it politics, but the people who received that help call it something else.

Farouk is also the son of the late Vice President Aliu Mahama, a man whose name still carries weight in Dagbon and across Ghana. But it would be lazy to reduce Farouk’s case to his father’s legacy. He served in Parliament from 2021 to 2025 and built his own record in education support, rural electrification, road improvements, youth training and support for farmers. The “Great Yendi Dream” may sound like a campaign slogan, but it speaks to a real gap between what Yendi has and what it could have.

The NPP should pay attention. The party is preparing for its primaries, and Farouk has made his intention clear ahead of the November 10, 2026 deadline for aspirants to register. If the NPP wants to win Yendi in 2028, it should not treat his return as a threat. It should treat it as an opportunity.

Why? Because the 2024 result shows that Farouk’s support is real and it is deep. He lost by 326 votes in a hostile national environment and with a divided party front at home. Imagine what he could do with a united party and a fair wind behind him. The NPP in Yendi cannot afford another internal fight that hands the seat to the NDC on a platter. The youth groups, elders and traditional leaders who reportedly urged him to return are sending a message: the grassroots want him.

None of this means Farouk should be crowned. He must win the primary. He must earn the ticket. But the party would be making a mistake if it pushed him aside or allowed the same divisions that hurt him in 2024 to fester again.

Yendi deserves a representative who stays, who listens, and who shows up even when the cameras are gone. Farouk has made his case. The numbers back him. His record backs him. And the people who called him back deserve to be heard.

We back his return. The Great Yendi Dream is unfinished, and Farouk Aliu Mahama should be given the chance to finish it.