Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Tamale Central, has insisted that the removal of former Assin North MP, James Gyakye Quayson, is an injustice orchestrated by the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP).

According to him, the NPP government knew well that Gyakye Quayson had been cleared by the Electoral Commission of Ghana (EC) to contest in the 2020 election but still made it a point to pursue him until his removal in recent times.

Speaking in a Pan African TV interview on Saturday, June 10, 2023, monitored by GhanaWeb, the MP added that even his colleague, MP for Assin Central and NPP presidential hopeful, Kennedy Agyapong, announced that they (the NPP) will remove Quayson even if elected before the 2020 elections.

“The fact is, Honourable Kennedy Agyapong had announced that even if he (Quayson) was elected, they were going to get him out of parliament, and they did so.

“So, nobody can convince me that the man was gotten out of parliament not as a result of the influence of the NPP and the President of the Republic of Ghana today.

“They knew that the Electoral Commission had cleared the gentleman to contest, yet they went and did what they did,” he said.

Murtala Mohammed, therefore, urged constituents of Assin North to vote back his former colleague for the sake of justice.

“So, you have a golden opportunity as the people of Assin North to show the NPP that the people of Assin North and the people of this country can never be taken for granted.

“And the only way you can appease him is by voting overwhelmingly to maintain him as a member of parliament,” he said.

Background:

The Supreme Court of Ghana, on May 17, 2023, ordered the Parliament of Ghana to expunge the name of James Gyakye Quayson as a Member of Parliament (MP)

The apex court of the land ruled that Quayson was not qualified at the time he contested the election in 2020 in the Michael Ankomah Nimfah vs. James Gyakye Quayson case.

According to the court, the ousted Assin North MP failed to prove that he had renounced his Canadian citizenship when he filed his nomination to contest the 2020 general elections.

Parliament subsequently declared the Assin North seat vacant, leading to the Electoral Commission of Ghana announcing a by-election on May 27, 2023, to fill the seat.

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IB/WA