The story of how NPP’s Assin North candidate 'begged' NDC to pick him over Gyakye Quayson

A member of the legal team of the National Democratic Congress, Edudzi Tamekloe, has alleged that Charles Opoku, the New Patriotic Party’s candidate in the Assin North by-election once approached the party (NDC) to allow him be their representative in the constituency.

According to the legal practitioner, when the Gyakye Quayson issue begun, Charles Opoku made advances at the party and asked to replace Gyakye Quayson in the event of a by-election.

Edudzi Tamekloe said on Metro TV that the NDC however rejected his request and told him that the party had absolute belief in James Gyakye Quayson.

“The interesting thing with Charles was that when Gyakye Quayson started having problems, Charles approached the NDC and wanted to be our candidate. You will notice that he is more of a Tarkwa-based person.

“He approached the NDC but we took our decision that we want Gyakye Quayson to continue. He will never deny it. He reached out in January 2021 that instead of Gyakye Quayson, we should pick him but we decided to keep fate in Gyakye Quayson. He is not a stalwart of the NPP,” he said.

Edudzi also disclosed his satisfaction with the party’s campaign in the Assin North constituency ahead of the by-elections.

He is confident that James Gyakye Quayson will win the elections and also pull victory in the criminal case against him.

“It’s been a nice experience interacting with them but I’m quite confident that with the support of the almighty, God, Gyakye Quayson will be returned by the EC on the 27th of June.”

In what has been termed as a mid-term election to assess the popularity of the two main political parties ahead of the 2024 elections, James Gyakye Quayson of the NDC is battling Charles Opoku of the NPP to retain the seat which he won in 2020.

The by-election was necessitated by a Supreme Court decision to declare the 2020 elections in the constituency as null and void.

The court held that at the time of filing to contest, James Gyakye Quayson had not successfully renounced his Canadian citizenship and thus was a dual citizen of Ghana and Canada.