Ghana’s newly sworn-in President, John Mahama, has sparked a social media frenzy after mistakenly referring to Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu as the “President of Ghana” during his inauguration speech.
The error occurred while Mahama was acknowledging dignitaries at the event, saying, “Your excellency, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, president of the Federal Republic of Ghana.” The audience was taken aback, and the slip-up quickly went viral on social media.
Reactions poured in, with some users defending Mahama and others ridiculing the mistake. @DONMICHAEL007 joked, “Abeg give the man his flowers he knows what he’s saying. In government we have direct and indirect rule. Guess he’s referring to indirect rule!” @iamEdoBlood commented, “It’s not a mistake. He knows what he’s talking about.”
On the other hand, @DonaldBlk quipped, “We are returning him back to Nigeria after serving as our president for 1 minute.”
@Blakjizuz took a more sympathetic approach, saying, “I cut these people a slack cos they’re elderly people working under pressure. It’s not easy. Anyone can make these mistakes. They’re humans.”
Mahama took the oath of office at Independence Square in Accra, Ghana’s capital, with President Tinubu in attendance. He succeeded Nana Akufo-Ado, who had taken over from him in 2017.
Before Mahama’s swearing-in, Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang made history as Ghana’s first female vice president.
The December election saw Mahama, representing the National Democratic Congress (NDC), win 50% of the votes, defeating then-vice president Mahamudu Bawumia of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) by a 1.7 million vote margin. Bawumia conceded defeat, stating, “The people of Ghana have spoken, the people have voted for change at this time and we respect it with all humility.”
Mahama confirmed receiving Bawumia’s congratulatory call on his X account.
He previously served as Ghana’s president from 2012 to 2016 and has returned to office with a mission to revive the country’s ailing economy.
