By Anthony Adongo Apubeo
Binduri (U/E), Jan. 26, GNA – The decision to popularly acclaim Mr Abanga Abdulai, the incumbent Member of Parliament for the Binduri Constituency as the 2024 parliamentary candidate of the New Patriotic Party, on January 27, 2024, has suffered a late setback.
This follows a decision by Mr Alex Amolbugri Avoka, a disqualified aspiring candidate, to file a case at the Bolgatanga High Court, praying the court to place an interlocutory injunction on the Binduri Constituency primaries of the party.
The only person who showed interest to contest the incumbent MP is seeking to challenge the decision of the Parliamentary Vetting Committee of the Party that disqualified him from race.
According to the Electoral Commission, the initial decision to popularly acclaim the current MP as the candidate for the next election had been put on hold pending the final decision of the court.
“We have been served with the case filed at the court seeking an injunction on the primaries at Binduri, and so we will not conduct the popular acclamation again at Binduri as initially planned.
“We will not go near Binduri with regards to that,” Mr William Obeng Adarkwa, the Upper East Regional Director of the Electoral Commission told the Ghana News Agency in an interview.
Mr Peter Ayamga Ayinbisa, the Upper East Regional Communications Officer of the NPP, said Mr Avoka was disqualified by the Parliamentary Vetting Committee of the Party after he was alleged to have provided wrong information during his filing to contest the primaries.
He alleged that the disqualified aspirant reduced his age by a year to benefit from the subsidy placed on the filing fee for youth, women, and persons with disability, adding “he said he was born in 1984 on the forms but the Committee found out that he was actually born in 1983.”
He added that Mr Avoka also indicated in the nomination forms that he had completed the Christian College of Education but during the vetting, he could not provide any document to substantiate his academic claim.
“Apart from that, some members of the party also petitioned the party that the disqualified aspirant forged their signatures and took their identification cards without their approval and that they did not endorse him as he has indicated, so the party looked at these and decided to disqualify him and that is what he is seeking to challenge,” he added.
The Binduri Constituency is the only seat in the Upper East Region that has an NPP MP.
GNA