Spio, who had earlier discounted claims that he was only in the race to eventually opt out and endorse the candidature of former first lady Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, confirmed the suspicion of several political observers when he announced his exit from the race.
By close of nominations yesterday, at 5pm, he had not been able to file his nomination forms.
Spokesman for Spio Alhaji Mohammed Nasiru, who spoke on various radio networks, cited technical reasons for the withdrawal since, according to him, they were having difficulties getting people to endorse the nomination forms of the aspirant.
He however denied speculations that it was indeed Spio’s game plan to exit at the last minute because ‘those are mere perceptions and like I always say, perceptions and opinions are like onions so everyone is entitled to one. Dr. Garbrah has contested several elections to the end’.
This, he said, was evident in the fact that ‘in 2006, he contested the primaries to the end, and came second to then candidate Mills. He also contested for the Vice Chairman position of the party at the last congress and had the top votes. We had wanted to continue but technicalities beyond our control have forced us to resign’.
He also complained of harassment and intimidation of delegates in endorsing the nomination forms, stressing that ‘there are other issues that will be highlighted at the appropriate time and made public’.
For now, Alhaji Nasiru said, ‘we are throwing our support to the NDC as Dr. Garbrah remains the Communications Committee Chairman of our party’.
General Secretary of the NDC Johnson Asiedu Nketiah considered the development as unfortunate, adding, however, that ‘we want him to continue to be a dedicated member of the party, to play his democratic roles since he is a good card-bearing member.’
‘He should continue to project a good image of our party. We also thank those who filed their nominations to beat the deadline,’ he added.
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
Read the rest here: