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Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has finally decided to maintain the 2008 New Patriotic Party ticket for the 2012 election by picking Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, the astute economist and banker, as his running mate. Dr. Bawumia returns from Harare, Zimbabwe today after bowing out of the top African Development Bank (ADB) job in the Southern African country where he has been working for the past one year. His resignation from the top job prompted questions as to whether he had foreknowledge of what awaits him on the political plane. Some observers did not tarry in concluding that the resignation could not have come about without an assurance from the flag-bearer that everything was cut and dry and that he could tender his resignation. The National Council of the party is due to deliberate on the choice next week so that the announcement of the running mate can be made by the end of the year, in consonance with party standards. The NPP 2012 flag-bearer ended his listening tour of the Northern Region three days ago, an exercise which is said to have enabled him to learn at first hand the widespread preference of the former Deputy Bank of Ghana Governor as his running mate. A search team empanelled six months ago to assist the flag-bearer on the choice of a running mate is said to have short-listed two persons for the top job, with Dr Bawumia leading the pack. The flag-bearer has already met with the committee since his return to base, after a tiring trip to the North which has been described as highly successful. Nana Akufo-Addo was insistent on adhering to the party�s position of choosing a Northern/Muslim partner, a notice about which he had served earlier on a number of platforms including meeting with Imams and chiefs. A critical factor which informed the flag-bearer�s decision, Daily Guide has gathered, had to do with his conviction that the former banker is primed with the appropriate wherewithal to support him in the realization of his vision of a massive economic and industrial transformation of the country in which job creation would form a critical cornerstone. Nana Akufo-Addo has also decided to avoid the inconvenience of explaining the change of the man who partnered him in the last election, an explanation which would definitely be demanded by curious observers both within and outside the largest opposition party and likely prompt embarrassing political backlashes.