Leader of the All People's Congress (APC), Hassan Ayariga, has reiterated intentions of vying for presidency again in the upcoming 2020 general elections despite suggestions that he’s never attached any seriousness to his bid.

“Yes, I am running for president this year on the ticket of the APC…Ghanaians should take me seriously,” he emphasized.

The renowned politician who made a rather humorous name for himself at the IEA presidential debate prior to the 2012 general elections indicated that, the notion that Ghanaians do not take him serious does not hold any longer.

After the debate, former President JJ Rawlings coined the name ‘Ayaricough’ to describe Mr Ayariga’s incessant cough at the debate which according to Ghanaians, caused nuisance and distraction.

But in an attempt to explain what really went on, Hassan Ayariga said, his cough at the debate some eight years ago, was as a result of a genuine illness not merely for humour or any form of distraction.

“You see this (holding up a water bottle), that’s ginger tea. Occasionally I have this cough issue and I still carry it along anywhere I go. So that cough wasn’t deliberate, I still carry this everywhere I go. When people have ill health and many think that it’s a joke then they should ask President Nana Addo himself about the day he was sworn in as president, he coughed continuously until they brought him water…”

He further recounted that as a result of the president’s continuous cough, “Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo, the first lady was shaking, I saw it on TV and I have the video…”

Adding that “coughing has nothing to do with performance…if Ghanaians think that coughing at the IEA debate is me not being serious, I beg to differ, then they should go and ask Nana Addo…”

Hassan Ayariga was speaking on Good Evening Ghana with Paul Adom Otchere, Tuesday, January 14, 2020.