The Chief Executive Officer of the Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC) and Yendi parliamentary candidate hopeful, Hajia Abibata Shanni Mahama Zakariah, has called on her supporters and members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to exercise restraint while awaiting the party’s resolution of the chaos that erupted during the constituency’s poll.
Chaos erupted on Saturday, January 27, 2024, during the counting process of the parliamentary contest between the incumbent MP, Farouk Aliu Mahama, and the MASLOC boss.
Hajia Abibata, in a statement on Sunday, recounted that “counting of ballot papers in the 2024 Yendi Parliamentary Election was profoundly and fiercely interrupted and halted due to a deliberate attempt by some Electoral Commission officials to manipulate the figures and overturn the verdict in favour of the incumbent MP, Farouk Aliu Mahama.”
She alleged that “Electoral Commission officials whether by miscalculation or by design during the counting of the ballot papers in the full glare of party supporters jumped the count from 69 straight to 80 which was his first attempt to increase the votes of my opponent by 10 more.”
Some executives of the NPP, including the regional chairman, the regional treasurer, the third vice-chairman, and the regional organizer, subsequently converged and declared Farouk Aliu Mahama as the parliamentary candidate elect in the absence of Hajia Abibata.
She, therefore, described the declaration as “illegitimate” and called her supporters and patriotic members of the party to “disregard it.”
She, however, urged “all stakeholders to respect established party structures and refrain from making premature pronouncements until an official decision is reached.”
Click here to read Hajia Abibata’s full statement.
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