Africa-Press – Ghana. Hajia Abibata Shanni Mahama, NPP parliamentary hopeful for the Yendi constituency, has expressed discontent with the National Executive Committee’s (NEC) confirmation of her opponent and incumbent MP Farouk Aliu Mahama as the parliamentary candidate for the constituency.
She said NEC’s confirmation of Mr Mahama is “unpopular and unheard-of”, emphasising that such decision is uncharacteristic of the party.
The Chief Executive of the Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC), Hajia Abibata, petitioned NEC to order fresh elections in the constituency, following the chaos that marred the January 27 polls.
Moreover, she called on the National Executive Committee, the highest decision-making body of the party, to declare the elections “null and void”, and also to restrain the incumbent MP, Mr Mahama, from holding himself as the MP-elect for the constituency.
However, the NPP’s General Secretary, Justin Frimpong Kodua, addressing a news conference on April 9, 2024, stated, among other things, that “The National Executive Committee has confirmed Hon. Farouk Aliu Mahama as the party’s parliamentary candidate for the [Yendi] constituency.”
Speaking to TV3, Hajia Abibata said, “The decision that came from NEC was an unpopular decision and it was unheard-of so far as I know about NPP. NPP is a party that is democratic and for NEC to have come up with such a decision which was unfair, which was skewed in favour of the incumbent MP, I think that was unfortunate.
“But as a patriot I accepted the decision because that is a decision from NEC but it wasn’t a decision that was in the best interest of the party,” she told.
Asked whether the decision would affect her support for the party in the constituency, as a section of her supporters have vouched to vote against the incumbent MP, she said, “I don’t know about my supporters who have sounded any alarm bell that they would not vote for the party…I know their pain, but as a party member, the best I could have done was to accept the decision.”
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