By Agbaxode Emmanuel
Dzodze (V/R), May 16, GNA – A group named ‘Concerned Youth of Ketu North NDC’ has expressed disappointment on the part of the Electoral Commission and some party executives in the Constituency to suppress the victory of Edem Agbana, an aspirant in the just ended parliamentary primaries.
They said they would fiercely resist any calculated machination to overturn the verdict of the delegates that gave their candidate the victory.
The group, on Monday, May 15, expressed their displeasure at a press conference at Dzodze, where they called for an immediate declaration of Mr Agbana as the winner of last Saturday’s elections, which saw their candidate registering 360 votes against his main contender, John Kwabla Adanu, who had 359 votes.
Faith Kwashigah Tagborlo, one of the conveners, in an engagement with pressmen, said they would without leaving any stone unturned, fiercely resist oppressors’ rule as they blamed some constituency party executives, tagging them as ‘the Three Wise Men’ who they claimed, openly declared their supports for the various candidates.
“After Edem Agbana declared his intention to contest in the parliamentary primaries in Ketu North, some of them were heard saying that in case Edem Agbana wins the election, they will resign from the party and join the NPP,” alleged part of the statement read.
The statement alleged that the hatred for Edem Agbana and his team was so glaring, hence their diabolic agenda.
Giving their account, Mr Tagborlo said on Saturday after voting had ended and sorting of ballot papers done for counting, the “Three Wise Men repositioned themselves such that they could easily interfere in the work of the EC officials.”
He said 360 votes were validly counted for their candidate and 359 for Mr Adanu with the other six aspirants recording lesser votes after which a recount was conducted proving the same results.
However, Mr Tagborlo said the agent of Mr Adanu refused to sign after the recounted results were recorded.
Subsequently, the EC officials further checked whether all ballot papers were stamped upon an instruction of the party’s Constituency Chair, which revealed two unstamped ballot papers in Mr Agbana’s votes and one in that of Mr Adanu, bringing the figures of both aspirants to a tie.
The group said among other things, that the negligence on the side of the EC cannot be blamed on a particular candidate, that how come Mr Bismark Adrigbatey, the Constituency Chair knew some ballot papers were unstamped and ordered for the ballots to be crosscheck while he was not an agent, leading to the removal of some unstamped ballot papers from the results after a recount.
Meanwhile, Mr James Gunu, the Volta Regional Secretary of the NDC in a statement on Monday, has assured the members of the party in the area that the will of the delegates would not be subverted.
The statement called for calm and media sobriety, restraint, unity, and cohesion in the area as they worked to address their concerns as soon as possible.
GNA