APC has not sued EC – General Secretary counters Ayariga

The All People’s Congress(APC), has dismissed reports that it has sued the Electoral Commission (EC) asking the court to direct the commission to re-instate its Flagbearer, Hassan Ayariga in the December 7 Presidential race.

According to the party, a move to court if any, would be considered in the form of a petition after the December 7 elections.

There have been reports in the media that Mr. Ayariga is in court to seek interpretation of sections of the elections regulation law.

“Our Lawyers have filed and we are waiting for the court to give us a date for the hearing or written submissions to be made,” Ayariga told Accra-based Citi FM in an interview Monday.

Ayariga said his legal redress being sought is relevant to help restore confidence in the system with some few weeks to elections.

“As a matter of fact, we are not happy. Some of you have watched the video of Madam Charlotte’s remark about Hassan Ayariga. I guess that if she knows losers in this year’s elections, I’m very sure she also knows the one who is going to win the elections. So why then do we go for an election? Ayariga questioned.

But the APC’s General Secretary, Razak Kwadwo Poku in an interview has countered the Flagbearer’s statement about the supposed suit against the EC saying he’s unaware of any such action taken by the party.

“Why will the APC go to court at this electioneering period, the timing to the election is too close. What do we stand to gain from such a move. We don’t have to raise unnecessary tension to create a situation whereby the peace and stability of the nation will be threatened. We don’t need to heighten the tension…its unnecessary. So we are quiet now, we want the process to go through so that on December 7, Ghanaians can vote for their preferred candidate. We are not in court for now, after the elections, we’ll make a decision.”

He added: “The party is not only about one person, it is about a collective group of people and the interest of these people is supreme. We have parliamentary candidates who we have to campaign for so we have representatives in Parliament, again we have about 15 million voters who will decide the fate of Ghanaians. Their interest takes supremacy over the rights of Hassan Ayariga that has been trampled upon. I’m saying it on authority that we are not in court.”

Mr. Ayariga who was disqualified along with some 12 other hopefuls failed to meet the set criteria again when the EC granted them a second opportunity to correct their nomination which had some anomalies.

Addressing a Press conference in the capital last week, the disgruntled leader of the APC accused the EC chairperson of sheer bias against him and deliberately scheming to cause his exclusion from the 2016 Presidential race.