Accra, June 2, GNA - Mr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, Former Vice Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), has dropped from the NDC flag bearer race, saying he will support whoever the delegates elect as the Party's Leader in Sunyani.

"I will, however, continue to offer valid criticisms to our Party Leadership and the Government if my conscience constrains me to do so, while commending them for what they do well and right," he said.

A press statement signed by Mr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah and copied to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) said: 93Yesterday, 1st June, at about 5pm, my campaign coordinator, Alhaji Mohamed Naziru informed the NDC Party General Secretary, Johnson Asiedu-Nketia, that I have decided to withdraw from the NDC leadership race."

It said the late entrance into the race, the tight deadline for submitting nomination forms, and other difficulties in the field made it difficult for his Regional Coordinators to secure all the necessary signatures from the NDC Executives from around the country before the deadline imposed by the Party.

The statement noted that although the official guidelines issued by the Party stated clearly that nominations shall close 30 days before the date of the Congress - 8-10 July - which meant that nominations should have closed on 8th June but 1st June had been somehow announced as the deadline for the submission of nomination forms.

It said the date 1st June did not exist in the official guidelines issued by the Party, adding that although, in consultations with Party Executives, 93I requested an extension of time, which was reportedly approved in principle, other factors have compelled me to think of the higher interest of the Party and to conclude my campaign for national leadership for now".

The statement called on the Party hierarchy, the Government and Former President Jerry John Rawlings and his wife Nana Konadu Agyemang-Rawlings to resolve the long-standing differences and reach mutual understanding and to come together before the primaries in order to ensure that the Party emerged from the Congress in unity and strength.

It noted that attempt by some people in the Party to sideline the Founder, Former President Rawlings was wrong, unfair, based on ingratitude, and if it continued it would lead to an electoral defeat for the Party in 2012.

The statement urged all in the Party to support President Atta Mills and the NDC Government to accomplish the aims of the NDC manifesto and the Better Ghana Agenda.

Mr Spio-Garbrah, therefore, called on his supporters both in Ghana and the Diaspora to continue to support the Party and its Leadership even though they would be disappointed in him, saying 93Spio-Garbrah's time is yet to come".