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Professor Alidu Mahama Seidu of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) has officially been declared Member of Parliament-elect for the Tamale Central by-election by the Electoral Commission (EC), after emerging as the sole candidate in the race.
The announcement was made on Tuesday, 23 September, by the Returning Officer for the constituency, Muniru Musah, in line with Constitutional Instrument (CI) 127, which empowers the EC to declare an unopposed candidate duly elected.
The by-election followed the death of the incumbent MP, Dr Alhaji Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed, who tragically lost his life in the recent military helicopter crash.
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Initially, three candidates, including Prof Seidu, the People’s National Convention (PNC) candidate, and the Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG) candidate, filed to contest. However, both opposing candidates later withdrew, leaving the NDC candidate unchallenged.
The EC subsequently reopened nominations for a 10-day period, but no new contenders stepped forward. With the deadline passed and no challengers, Prof Seidu was declared MP-elect without a single vote cast.
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Profile of Professor Alidu Seidu
Tamale Central MP Prof Alidu Seidu
Prof Alidu Seidu is the immediate past Head of the Department of Political Science at the University of Ghana. He currently serves as an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science and as a Research Fellow at the Centre for Asian Studies at the University of Ghana.
In 2014, he was named a Donahue Institute Scholar on United States Political Thought at the University of Massachusetts. He is also a visiting lecturer at twelve Master of Research and Public Policy (MRPP) universities across Africa, including the University of Lagos, University of Ibadan, University of Dar-es-Salaam, University of Nairobi, and the University of Botswana.
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He was a Maria Sibylla Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa (MIASA) Fellow on Parliaments and Democracy in Africa and has collaborated with several policy think tanks, including:
Partnership for African Social and Governance Research (PASGR) in Nairobi, Kenya
Centre for International Development Issues Nijmegen, Netherlands
Institute for Development Studies, University of Sussex
Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG)
Friedrich-Ebert Stiftung
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
Varieties of Democracy Project, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College
German-African Governance Partnership Organisation
Social Science Research Council, New York
Prof Seidu has published extensively in leading journals such as Peace Review, Criminal Justice Studies, Transitional Justice Review, Journal of African Political Economy and Development, Contemporary Journal of African Development, and Ghana Studies.
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In May 2025, he was appointed as the new Executive Secretary of the Water Resources Commission, marking another milestone in his career. His transition from academia to national politics and now to parliament is widely regarded as a significant and commendable achievement.