First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Edward Doe Adjaho is expected to be declared, unopposed tomorrow by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Constituency executives, as their parliamentary candidate for the Ave-Avenor Constituency, at the 2012 general elections in December.
This follows his opponent’s disqualification at the NDC national vetting exercise in the Volta Regional capital, Ho, last week, The Herald leant.
Lawyer Evans Djikunu Gadetoh, who was the sole contender of Mr. Adjaho, was disqualified on what for now appears to be forgery and mispresentations discovered in the nomination forms he submitted to the NDC’s Ave-Avenor office in Akatsi.
The Herald had reported that Mr. Djikunu may have difficulties in sailing through towards contesting the primary due to irregularities identified in his nomination form.
Investigations by the Ave-Avenor Constituency executives led to claims by some individuals in the Constituency that their signatures were forged by agents of Mr. Adjaho’s opponent. It was also revealed that instead of registered NDC supporters, Lawyer Djikunu’s nominations were illegally endorsed by NPP executives living in the Constituency.
Meanwhile, information reaching The Herald from the NDC regional head office in Ho had it that, 17 parliamentary aspirants from eight constituencies have also been disqualified.
The constituencies are: Anlo – five aspirants, two disqualified; Keta –seven contestants, two disqualified; Ave-avenor –two contestants, one disqualified; Hohoe South –three, one disqualified; Hohoe North – six aspirants, two disqualified; Biakoye Constituency – three aspirants, one disqualified; Buem Constituency – three aspirants, two disqualified; Akan Constituency – seven aspirants, four disqualified.
In the case of the Ave-Avenor Constituency, sources close to Lawyer Djikunu told The Herald, that he is dusting his robe and wig for a possible legal battle with the party for disqualifying him.
Other sources suggest that some NPP elements in the Constituency are pushing him to contest the seat as an independent candidate, since the NPP aspirant, Leo Adidogah, cannot fly the Ave-Avenor constituency; one of the NDC’s safest seats.
Currently, the reports making the rounds suggest that Lawyer Djikunu was pushed to clip Mr. Adjaho’s towering personality in the Constituency by the NPP, hence he is mostly seen in the company of card-bearing supporters of the NPP.
The picking of the NDC nomination form is seen as a charade. Judith Dzedor, Cecilia Ahanogbe, Awudi Joseph, Sedzro Evelyn, Dzamesi Faustine and Obed Atsuvia have reported to the Constituency executives that their signatures had been forged by the campaign team of Mr. Djikunu, led by one Mr. Francis Tenge.
Apart from the forgery, Lawyer Djikunu’s nomination forms bore the names of people who are not card-bearing members of the NDC, while signatories to the forms were known members of the NPP.
Another interesting thing discovered was that a teenager, one Cecilia Ahanogbe, who is not qualified by law to vote, was also forced to append her signatures on the nomination form of Lawyer Djikunu.
Ms Ahanogbe was later discovered to be a 17-year-old teenager of the Ave-Dakpa Junior High School. She was forced by one Emmanuel Fodi, a known NPP activist, to endorse Lawyer Djikunu’s form.
Further claims had it that the party card presented by Mr. Evans Djikunu did not bear any registration number. He could also not produce his voter registration card.
Records from the Live Branch of the NDC, which he had laid claim to in the nomination form as his branch, revealed he is not a card-bearing member of the NDC.
This had been confirmed by the Branch Chairman for Live, Mathias Dogbey, in a document made available to The Herald. Another document also in the custody of this paper is a letter from the Akatsi District Electoral Commission office, saying Mr. Dzikunu is not a registered voter at the Live Polling Station.
Meanwhile, one Mr. Ahiataku Enoch, a known NPP polling agent, who also endorsed the form, gave evidence to the panel during vetting that “when they came to me for an endorsement, I told them that I’m an NPP polling station chairman but Mr. Dahume William, his campaign manager, said it is not a problem, therefore, I can sign the form.”
Family sources told The Herald that an ex-schoolmate of Lawyer Djikunu from the Donkorkrom Senior Secondary School in the Afram Plains, working with Kwaku Baaku’s New Crusading Guide is being used by the aspirant to push the never-ending misleading stories, including one that said that students in Akatsi District scored zero at the 2011 BECE. The story turned out false.
