Aspiring National Chairperson of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Paul Afoko, has brushed aside a recent opinion poll that puts former General Secretary John Boadu ahead in the race, arguing that delegate votes, not surveys, will determine who takes the position.

The Global InfoAnalytics survey released on August 20, 2026, showed John Boadu leading with 27% support among NPP voters, followed by former Energy Minister Boakye Agyarko with 15% and Mr Afoko with 10%.

But for Mr Afoko, the figures offer little indication of how the contest will ultimately end.

Speaking to Accra-based Citi News on the sidelines of a thanksgiving service for newly elected Ashanti Regional Executives at Gracefields Chapel in the Nhyiaeso Constituency, he said he was focused on the October 3 election.

“I don’t believe in any polls. The only poll I believe in is the October 3 poll here in Kumasi,” he said.

Rather than respond to the survey’s ranking, Mr Afoko pointed to his campaign’s reception among delegates as a more meaningful measure of his prospects.

“How do I rate my chances? I mean, for the places I have been to, I think the message is resonating. That is what I would say. The message is resonating. But I don’t believe in any polls,” he added.

He questioned the reliability of surveys that depend on respondents accurately revealing their voting intentions.

“All other polls are just speculation. And as they say, you can’t enter into a person’s mind and know whether they are telling you the truth or not,” he said.

Mr Afoko also said his continued presence on the campaign trail was itself evidence of his confidence in winning the contest.

“So I wouldn’t be here campaigning if I thought I was going to lose. I wouldn’t,” Mr Afoko said.

While the chairmanship contest remains a key part of his campaign, Mr Afoko used his appearance in Kumasi to emphasise what he sees as a bigger task for the NPP: rebuilding the party after its electoral setbacks.

The thanksgiving service was organised by the newly elected Ashanti Regional Executives, led by Chairman Odeneho Kwaku Appiah, popularly known as Asanteman COKA.

Mr Afoko described the Ashanti Region as central to the NPP’s fortunes and said the election of new regional executives offered the party an opportunity to rebuild its structures.

“I actually came around for several reasons, but this has been the prime. And my reason for being here is the fact that Asante is the heartbeat of our party. It’s the stronghold, it’s our heartbeat,” he said.

He expressed optimism that the party could recover the seven parliamentary seats it lost in the region during the 2024 elections.

The NPP currently holds 40 parliamentary seats in the Ashanti Region, and Mr Afoko said renewed attention to constituencies where the party suffered losses could help strengthen its position.

But he identified unity as the key ingredient to the party’s return to power.

“The one prerequisite of power is unity. And this is the same thing I’ve been carrying around. Once we are ready to stop discrimination, once we are able to forget that and remember that our unity was formed here in Asante, in Kumasi especially, when we had our tradition, we came together here in Kumasi,” Mr Afoko said.

He called on party members to reconnect with the unity associated with the NPP’s roots in the United Party tradition.

“Those days they used to call us UP tradition. We have reached that point again. We have to find our unity,” he said.

Mr Afoko also backed the new Ashanti Regional Chairman, Odeneho Kwaku Appiah, saying his experience in party organisation could prove useful in rebuilding the party’s fortunes.

“Once we find our unity and COKA does his job very well, which I believe he will because he’s experienced, he’s held constituency chairmanship and all that, then yes, the future of our party in Asante is bright,” he said.