EC boss swore to disqualify me – Hassan Ayariga

All People’s Congress (APC) flag bearer Hassan Ayariga has accused the chair of the Electoral Commission (EC), Charlotte Osei, of disqualifying him from participating in the 2016 presidential race on personal grounds.

“The EC did not say they were not going to accept [my candidature]. Madam Charlotte Osei said she [was] not going to accept my candidature and she [was] doing this on personal grounds,” Mr Ayariga told Prince Minkah on the Executive Breakfast Show (EBS) on Class91.3FM on Thursday November 10.

Mr Ayariga rained abuses on the EC Chair a few weeks ago when he was first disqualified from the presidential race over some errors.

The APC’s flag bearer was one of 13 nominees disqualified for various anomalies. At the time of Mr Ayariga’s disqualification, the EC identified two errors on his forms but following a ruling by the Supreme Court that all the disqualified nominees be given the opportunity to make amends, the election management body said it subsequently detected 93 new errors.

The EC asked him to correct all those errors by the Tuesday 9 November 5pm deadline given by the Supreme Court.

Although Mr Ayariga resubmitted the corrected nomination forms before the deadline, his candidature was rejected by the EC for the second time, ruling him out of the December polls. The nominations of seven other aspirants were also rejected for the second time.

Earlier the APC’s General Secretary, Razak Kojo Opoku, had accused the EC of using “ambush tactics” to kick the party out of the race.