A former member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), who is contesting the parliamentary seat in the Wa West constituency in the Upper West region , Farouk Bandana has dismissed claims he was influenced by the presidency to contest as an independent candidate.
Farouk Bandana decided to go independent after he lost his parliamentary slot during the NDC primaries in the constituency.
Some have alleged that Farouk decided to go independent after incessant pressure from the presidency.
But speaking on Citi FM’s Campaign Trail, Farouk denied these allegations saying “ It is not true I have support from the Flagstaff House because if I did you will not see the Chief of Staff in my constituency trying to talk to my two paramount chiefs and that of the NDC youth trying to talk to me to rescind my decision. They would have been supporting that agenda.”
He further stated that the presidency actually convinced him not to contest as an independent candidate.
“The presidency actually prevailed upon me to stop but I told them it is one thing respecting your decision but it is another thing respecting the wishes and aspirations of my people, my traditional leaders, my chiefs and people, my youth. It is for them I am fighting and for them I will continue to fight and because of them I will not rescind my decision .”
Apart from Farouk Bandana ,the incumbent Member of Parliament of Lawra constituency, which is in the same region [Upper West], Sampson Abu is also contesting the seat as an independent candidate.
Sampson Abu a former DCE,won the lawra constituency seat in 2012 with 12,735 votes, beating his closest contender, Anthony Abefa Karbo of the NPP with 6,588 votes.
But the NDC delegates replaced Abu with a veteran politician, Bede Zeideng during the party’s primaries in September 2015.Bede Zeideng beat Abu with just 16 votes.
Although the lawmaker accepted the verdict, he believes Bede Ziedeng used his position as the NDC’s Deputy Director of elections to unduly influence the votes to his own advantage.
Bede Zeideng has however dismissed these claims.
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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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