A New Patriotic Party (NPP) Parliament aspirant for the Wa Central constituency, Moomin Tahiru Issahaku has vowed to unseat NDC MP for the area, Dr Rashid Pelpuo if given the nod to lead the NPP in the 2016 general elections.
The 38-year old, Moomin Tahiru Issahaku was the NPP’s parliamentary candidate in the 2012 elections.
[contextly_sidebar id=”q4kHvYC6yUPtLdl9Wc5DsqNDbvUt7CA1″]Motivated by his performance in 2012, Mr. Moomin Tahiru Issahaku believes he has gathered enough experience that will enable him galvanize support from the grassroots to lead the party to victory.
Speaking at the Wa Central constituency office of the NPP after submitting nomination forms ahead of the party’s parliamentary vetting, he said “I am highly motivated by the performance we chalked in the last election. My performance is unprecedented in the political history of our party in the Wa central constituency. It is only proper to build on that rather than looking elsewhere. We have learnt the lessons with new commitment and I can tell you that victory is on the way”.
Moomin Tahiru, popularly known as Issac is one of five aspirants eying the Wa central constituency seat. He polled 22304 votes in the 2012 elections as compared to his predecessor in the 2008 parliamentary elections who had a little over 17,000 votes.
He faces competition from Janat Samsudeen, a sole female candidate who joined three others, Hadih Bawa, Mahama Issahak a business man and the party’s constituency deputy secretary Hamid Osman who has resigned his position to contest the Wa central seat
So far 19 people have picked nomination forms in 10 out of the 11 districts of the Upper West region. Nominations for the remaining constituency – Nadowli-Kaleo – will not be opened until September for strategic reasons.
“We have obtained permission from the national executive to delay the opening of nominations for just that constituency until September for strategic reasons. That’s all I can say about it,” Mr Hafiz Bin-Salih told citi news in an interview.
The NPP currently has no parliamentary seat in the UW region. The ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) currently holds 10 parliamentary seats with the Jirapa seat being occupied by an independent Member in Parliament.
However, it is only the Nadowli-Kaleo seat which has maintained a single occupant, the Majority Leader in Parliament, Hon. Alban Bagbin, since 1993.
Citi News can report that high profile candidates are bracing for interesting races for what is seen largely as a defining general election for the NPP in 2016.
That list includes former Attorney-General Ambrose Dery, former national youth organizer of the NPP, Anthony Karbo, university lecturers, former district chief executives and private businessmen.
While former deputy Attorney-General, Mr Dery, has filed as the sole candidate for Ben Kumbour’s Nandom Constituency, Karbo and Dongtaa are the two so far in the race for the Laura seat candidacy.
Bright Baligi, the regional secretary and a lecturer at the University for Development Studies, has resigned his party post to contest Stephen Delle for the Lambussie-Karni seat, while businessman Alhassan Kanton is daring 2012 constituency candidate, Patrick Adama, in a straight contest at Sissala West.
In Sissala East, Amidu Chinia, the 2012 candidate for the party, and Ridwan Dawud have picked nomination forms, while Godfred Tangu, a former Member of Parliament; Salifu Abdulai, a former assembly presiding member, and Hudeed Ahmed, a private businessman, are expected to contest for the Wa East candidacy.
In Wa West, former DCE Daniel Dari and Nuhu Mahama, a lecturer at Cape Coast polytechnic, are in a straight fight for the constituency candidacy.
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By: Mahama Latif/citifmonline.com/Ghana