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I stepped down to unite NDC, I did not run from Isaac Adongo – Opam-Brown

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A former Member of Parliament for the Bolgatanga Central Constituency, Opam-Brown Akolbire will no longer contest the National Democratic Congress constituency primaries, scheduled for August 2019.

The Former Member of Parliament could not submit his nomination form before the closure of the submission period and therefore has pulled out automatically. This for many on-lookers was expected.

But for his decision not to submit his nomination, Mr. Akolbire would have contested with the incumbent Member of Parliament, Isaac Adongo and George Gamson.

He was among some 54 persons who picked nomination forms across the 15 constituencies in the Upper East region.

Mr. Akolbire in an interview confirmed that he did not submit his forms because an elder of the party, Mr. Dominic Asabiya, advised him to step aside and allow the incumbent MP and Mr. Gamson to contest.

“He is somebody I respect so much and so when he spoke to me that he is seeing that there would be too much divisions after the primaries and we cannot control and it might let us lose votes, I decided to listen to him.” He added.

According to the former Member of Parliament, his decision to pull out was a sign of respect to party elders and not because he fears the incumbent MP Isaac Adongo, as a section of the media is suggesting.

“I read on Ghanaweb that Opam-Brown chickens out against Isaac Adongo. I guess they are looking at it at the national level, but I wished they had gone down to the grassroots or Bolga constituency to find out whether I chickened out of such a race.”

In his view, adding to the number would have made it too many, which could also bring some cracks into the party, ahead of the 2020 general elections.

“For us as NDC, 2020 is a critical election and if you look at all three that picked nomination forms, I’m more senior than them and so at the end of the day, somebody I respect so much talked to me that since I’m senior of the three, I should not help to create all those divisions.
… I have the party at heart and I suffered between 2001 and 2008 to reconcile the party in the constituency so I know how difficult it is and how it can affect the elections. I did not win in 2004 because we could not reconcile the people well enough before the 2004 elections. So, if somebody I respect comes to remind me of that circumstance, I needed to listen to him.”

Source: A1radioonline.com | 101.1MHz | Ghana

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