NDC race: Extend deadline for filing nominations – Atubiga pleads

Flagbearer hopeful of the opposition National Democratic Congress, Stephen Atubiga says he is unable to meet the deadline set for filing of nomination forms hence his plea for an extension of the date.

The NDC has set tomorrow 18th December, 2018 as the closing date for submission of nomination forms by all flagbearer hopefuls but Mr. Atubiga says his challenge has been getting executives of the party to endorse his form.

According to him, “The challenge has been meeting with the executives to endorse my forms. Sometimes you go to an executive’s house and you are told he’s gone to the farm and we are visiting 275 constituencies, so we are hoping that we can if not tomorrow, write a letter to the party that we will pay the nomination and filing fee upfront. We will also ask the National Executives if they can use their wisdom to give us some few more days to finish it but we are pushing to see how we can finish it to meet the deadline”.

Meanwhile, Alban Bagbin and Joshua Alabi have submitted their presidential nomination forms, officially setting the stage for the contest of the NDC’s flagbeareship slot.

Addressing the NDC’s National Executives after submitting his forms, Bagbin who’s also the Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament said he was presenting himself to the party’s delegates as the best person to regain power from the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) in 2020.

He said: “As a presidential candidate, I assure you that with your support and prayers and our message of grassroots empowerment and commitment to ending of the cycle of neglect that has plagued those who have saved the party and the country, victory will be ours in 2020.

“I can’t wait for the NDC to get back the power we gave away in 2016. But for us to win election 2020, we must first win the battle for the soul of our party. For us to win election 2020, we must win election 2019 by electing ‘AskBagbin’ in the primaries.”

Taking his turn Joshua Alabi said he was in the race to offer leadership and give hope to the NDC’s teeming supporters and the country as a whole. According to him, he realized after touring the whole country that the NDC lacks resources.

“It is clear that we really need resources and that’s why people like me with good leadership skills, I have to pay 300,000 cedis to present myself to lead this party,” he affirmed.

Former President John Mahama and Sylvester Mensah are also expected to submit theirs later today.