Coming out of the shadows: Nurideen Iddrisu, the Outsider, Underdog and potential Dark Horse

Never has one person perfectly fit the description of the three most used metaphors in contemporary politics as much as this candidate.

He is the perfect description of the “Underdog”, “Dark Horse” and “Outsider”.

He is the “Underdog” because whenever the elections are mentioned, his name and face are usually forgotten even though he has been able to raise the jaw-dropping filing fees, met all requirements and has been actively campaigning. To top it off, he doesn’t feature in the list of favourites to win the primaries.

He is the “Outsider” because out of the seven aspirants, he is the only one who is not from the Ghanaian political establishment or has played no direct role in Ghana’s politics. In fact, his only connection worth metioning and which he has never failed to point out is his familial relationship with an elderly statesman and revered politician, Alhaji Mahama Iddrisu. Aside him every other aspirant is from the political establishment.    

He would perfectly fit the description of the “Dark Horse” if he is able to successfully leverage on the two earlier mentioned qualities to either emerge winner or give the winner a run for his money; meaning he has work to do.

Let me introduce the candidate of whom I speak; he is 43 years old businessman Nurideen Iddrisu who is always the seventh candidate in the seven man horse race for the Flagbearership contest of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).    

Anyone observing the calibre of persons who have put themselves up to contest in the primaries that will elect the man to lead the NDC to the 2020 elections will undoubtedly come to the conclusion that it is an experienced, solid and dynamic pack.

It is a pack made up of a former President who has risen through the ranks of Ghanaian politics (John Mahama), a legislator extraordinaire (Alban Bagbin), a non-conformist reformist/revolutionarist (Goosie Tanoh), a strategist (Sylvester Mensah), an academic (Prof. Joshua Alabi) and an internationally recognized Administrator and politician (Ekow Spio Garbrah).

All these candidates are known faces with strong reputations in Ghanaian politics.

Even Prof. Alabi who I describe as an academic has held a political portfolio and is a known face in politics.

Nurideen Iddrisu’s only claim to National political exposure is a failed bid for the National Organizer position of the NDC in 2010; save for that, his work in politics has been grassroots and branch focused.

To be very frank, the first time I heard of his candidature, I had to google his name and that was after failing to get any information on him from my colleagues; my colleagues only drew my attention to the suggestion that he is the nephew of the revered Alhaji Mahama Iddrisu.

It would take the brouhaha that greeted the announcement of the jaw dropping filing fees for the Presidential primaries of the NDC for me to get the opportunity to interact with and meet him.

He was at the time the Spokesperson for the Flagbearer aspirants who were protesting the charging of GH₵400,000 as filing fees and had taken the step of petitioning the Council of Elders of the NDC.

At the time, I must admit we had penned him as one of the aspirants who will cut short their bid because of the filling fees.

But after my interactions with him, I told my colleagues he will file and he did filed after the fees were reviewed downwards albeit to GH₵300,000, an amount which was a disincentive.

Since then I have had the opportunity to interact with him in person and he exhibits the true characteristics of a dark horse; a confidence that can scare the most formidable of opponents, a calm that makes you doubt his underdog status, a conviction of a winner and a clear sense of purpose.

Nurideen Iddrisu has one message, empowerment.

"We need to empower our party members and our grassroots," he said.

He believes the grassroots of the NDC have gotten to a stage where they are questioning the status quo of working without reaping.

Alhaji Iddrisu says his travel around the country and work with the grassroots has brought him face to face with the conditions of poverty under which hardworking NDC members live.

He is convinced what the party needs is empowerment of the branches to do business and create employment for members.

The one message he has carried to delegates is the creation of a platform that will ensure the redistribution of Wealth from the top to the bottom by ensuring that persons who get the privilege to serve whenever the party is in power contribute to ensure the party's branches are stronger. 

He believes the NDC is becoming less attractive by the day and would only be taken seriously if Ghanaians see an interest in growing and developing party members and the elected Flagbearer must first demonstrate that if he wants to lead the party to victory in 2020.

Having recounted his mission, it is worth stating that my request for a profile on him led to the Information that he has a background in banking and petroleum having worked with Standard Chartered for 2 years and Oando Ghana Limited for 3 years. He has been running his own companies since 2012 when he resigned from Oando. In terms of academic qualification, Nurideen holds a BSc. Administration in Marketing and an MBA in Finance from the University of Ghana.

In his profile Nurideen stated his vision is “to see a nation in which all citizens would be empowered through Education, Good Health and Jobs.” His mission is “to lead a planned and sustained investment in people and infrastructure for rapid creation of a sustainable economic development and empowered citizens.”

Having properly introduced Nurideen let me return to my earlier qualifiers especially the “Dark Horse” because it introduces the work aspect of his candidature.

Being an “Outsider” and “Underdog” can be no guarantee to winning the primaries, if anything at all, it makes you seem a weaker candidate.

The truth however is that “Outsuiders” have done particularly well in world politics in recent times by pointing to their lack of involvement in the state of affairs of their respective countries.

Nurideen’s seeming weakness of a lack of exposure and experience may also be his biggest strength because afterall he was not part of the problem neither has he in anyway contributed to failed attempts to solve it; either within the party or nationally.

For now, Nurideen is enaged in a low profile campaign which has involved interactions with the delegates of the NDC and has been focused on his message of empowerment of the membership of the opposition party.  

One thing is however incontestable, no matter what happens, Nurideen has time on his hands and the current exposure could be the preparatory work he needs to put himself in contention for the presidency.