The Election Committee of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Constituency has been petitioned to expunge a Youth Organizer aspirant, Michael Tobire who is contesting as Youth Organizer for the Nabdam Constituency. Mr. Tobire who is the current constituency Deputy Organizer of the party is vying for the Youth Organizer position.
But a petition sighted by A1 NEWS stated that the said aspirant was born on 1st June 1981 and thus has attained the age of 40 years and above, making him unqualified to contest the position.
The Constitution of the New Patriotic Party, Article 15 (4a) defines youth as “a member who has not attained the age of forty (40) years.”
Speaking to A1 Radio the petitioner, Emmanuel Nyaabil Ziyaaba, said he is pleading for the party to disqualify the Youth Organizer aspirant to protect the integrity of the party.
“I am not doing this based on ill interest but what the party constitution says. Probably, he [Michael Tobire] didn’t know that he was more than the age to contest. As a Youth Organizer, you should be organizing people within your age bracket so that you will understand what they want. So, if you are outside the age brackets, you wouldn’t know what the people want and it could lead to another election that we may lose.”
Mr. Tobire when contacted said he has read the party’s constitution but he is yet to come across part of the article that disqualifies him.
But the petitioner said all documents thus, voter ID card, National Identification card, birth certificate, and the Facebook account of the aspirant indicate that he was born on 1st June 1981.
Mr. Tobire was quick to add that the error occurred in all his documents because he had used an erroneous voter ID card to register for all the above-mentioned documents.
The Upper East Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party, Lawyer Anthony Namoo when contacted said the General Secretary of the NPP, John Boadu has appointed people to head a National Executive Committee which will look into the petition.
The governing New Patriotic Party is set to hold its annual constituency delegates conference from April 28th to May 4, 2022. A statement from the party said the congress will take place regardless of the statutory holidays; May Day and Eid-Ul-Fitr.
Source: A1Radioonline.com|101.1Mhz|Joshua Asaah
