Mr Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin, Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament and Member of Parliament for Nadowli Kaleo, has lamented over the passing of a pioneering leader of the NDC in the Northern Region.

Alhaji Meijida Dramani, founding member and the first ever Constituency Chairman for Bole-Bamboi, passed to glory on Tuesday and Mr Bagbin, who is currently a flagbearer hopeful of the NDC said the party had been left the poorer.

“Alhaji Meijida, like all other pioneering leaders of our party, was a standing pillar of our tradition. He toiled to sow the seeds of what today is the powerful tree we call the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

“Our party has been left the poorer for this loss and he will be sourly missed,” Mr Bagbin told the Ghana News Agency in an interview in Accra. Mr Bagbin prayed that God would repose his soul and also sent his condolences to the late Alhaji Meijida Dramani’s family.

“My condolences to his immediate family, his wife, his children and loved ones; also, as a party, we need commiseration ourselves and so I ask that all of us in the NDC be strong in these trying times,” Mr Bagbin said.

Alhaji Meijida Dramani passed on Tuesday. It is not yet clear, what the exact cause of death is.

“He was a founding member of the NDC and was the first ever Chairman for Bole-Bamboi and held that position till 2004 and was instrumental in re-organising the party from opposition after the NPP had won the election for the first time in 2000 and ruled from 2000 to 2008.

“As Chairman, he played a crucial role in the Bole-Bamboi Constituency to make it a victory corridor of the NDC.

Already, former President John Mahama, who became MP for Bole-Bamboi during the Chairmanship of Alhaji Meijida has expressed his condolences.

In a post on his Facebook timeline, he commiserated with the family of the deceased and also the entire NDC family.