APC drags EC to court over Ayariga's disqualification

The All People’s Congress (APC) has sued the Electoral Commission (EC) challenging the disqualification of the party’s flagbearer, Dr Hassan Ayariga, from participating in the upcoming presidential election.

The suit which was filed Thursday at the Accra High Court is the third of such cases brought against the Commission following its rejection of the nominations of some 12 presidential candidates in the December polls.

Speaking to Joy News after his lawyers filed the suit, Dr Ayariga said he would challenge the disqualification but he would do that legitimately.

“Because I believe in the rule of law, I will wait until the court [where the suit has been filed] delivers its verdict,” he said.

The APC leader was among 11 others who failed to pass the EC's strict test to contest the election with the EC Chair citing various reasons for their disqualifications.

Related Article: EC disqualifies Nduom, Konadu, 11 others; accepts 4

[L-R] some disqualified presidential candidates, Dr Nduom, Dr Mahama, Dr Ayariga, Nana Konadu, Akua Donkor

EC boss, Charlotte Osei had told journalists last week that she would be unable to accept Dr Ayariga’s nomination because of the following reasons;

(a). The candidate did not provide evidence on his statutory declaration as to his hometown or residence in the constituency as per the legal requirements.

(b). Two subscribers to Dr. Ayariga’s nominations also subscribed for another presidential candidate. This is in breach of Regulation 7(4) of CI 94.

Related Article: Mahama, Akufo-Addo, Greenstreet, Yeboah survive Charlotte Osei’s axe

She explained “The implication is that the two subscribers are disqualified and therefore, Dr Ayariga does not have the requisite number of subscribers under Regulation 7(2) (b) of CI 94.

The details of the duplicate subscribers are as follows: Abaako Issifu (page 103) Voter ID number 2988006876 PS code: J110202; Abudu Ayuba (page 95), Voter ID number 6303005554 PS code: H200201.

“In addition, the signatures of both voters are different on the two nomination forms. This raises questions as to the legitimacy of those signatures. We will refer the matter of the possible forgeries of these signatures to the Ghana Police Service and the Attorney General for investigation and prosecution in line with the following sections of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29): Section 211: Perjury Section 248: making false declaration etc. for office or voting; Section 251: Deceiving a public officer Section 256: Corruption, Intimidation and impersonation in respect of election.”

Related Article: APC’s Hassan Ayariga beats retreat; apologises to EC Chair

But the APC leader was angered by the decision which led to him raining invectives on the EC boss. He described Mrs Osei in unprintable words but was later to apologize for his act.

The decision to seek the intervention of the court for his disqualification goes contrary to his earlier position that he would go on to a campaign.

He had told party supporters at Ashaiman, a suburb of Accra that he would continue to campaign despite the disqualification, only for him to change his stance later.

“I will not campaign for myself but for my parliamentary candidates to win their election,” he said.

“We have sent the matter to court today [Thursday] as we speak our lawyers are in court and only justice is what we are waiting for,” he said, urging the judges to do due diligence to the electoral cases before them.

He said he would not allow the Commission to plunge the country into chaos by divisive decisions in the lead-up to the general election.

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com