The disqualified Parliamentary candidate aspirant of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Bimbila constituency in the northern region, Alhaji Ahmed Zaruk, has called for calm among members of the party in the wake of his disqualification.
The embattled politician was disqualified from contesting the incumbent Member of Parliament, Dominic Nitiwul, to become the 2024 parliamentary candidate and lead the NPP into this year’s December 7 general elections.
He was accused of allegedly failing to properly fill his nomination forms submitted to the constituency elections committee which was eventually submitted to the regional vetting committee to pave the way for him to participate in the internal contest.
The National Executive Committee (NEC) subsequently announced his disqualification among other prospective candidates in a statement issued on January 17, having received the reports of the National Vetting Committee and National Appeals Committee.
Addressing a mammoth crowd of NPP supporters in Bimbila last Friday, Alhaji Zaruk welcomed the decision of the NEC and urged his supporters to respect same although they are unhappy with the decision.
“I came to urge my people on two issues – the first issue is that they should be patient with the decision of the National Executive Council. The decision to disqualify me has been bitter for all of us but we have to be patient with that. Also, I urge them to be patient with all that is happening in the party” he appealed.
The beleaguered Parliamentary aspirant however said his integrity cannot be question, emphasizing his credibility is still intact and the love and support of the constituents remains unwavering for him.
He said it couldn’t have been true that he refused to sign the particular purported position of the nomination form that warranted his disqualification after paying so much to procure the form to contest in the primaries.
He further questioned how comes the constituency elections committee that received the document and scrutinize it could not see the unsigned portion stating further that he was equally surprised this was not also notice at the regional level until his name was omitted from the vetting list.
“Why will someone accuse me of deliberately refusing to sign a portion of a form I paid so much to file? Why will someone accuse me of being the person to start violence in Bimbila constituency” he queried.
Mr. Zaruk alleged that the incumbent NPP MP who doubles as the Defense Minister and his assigns masterminded his disqualification.
