The ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) is heading into the 2016 general elections in the Chiana-Paga Constituency for a repeat of what happened at the 2008 polls in the area after a controversial 2007 parliamentary primary.

Starr News can confirm that Abuga Pele, following the defeat of the veteran legislator at the Saturday’s primary at Chiana-Paga, is poised to go independent for the 2016 polls.

The former GYEEDA boss has told newsmen in the Upper East region that he will go solo only if his supporters want him to do so.

And even whilst he was mentioning this to journalists in an interview Sunday, it was already established that the defeated MP would go independent as his supporters very angry at his loss and who would later tell Starr News their resolution is non-negotiable, already had begun to clamour seriously for him to contest the general elections as an individual.

“I must say that if really the constituents believe that I should go as an independent candidate, if they insist, I have to do it. They are the people who put me where I am. Ultimately, I believe the people are always right. They make you who you are. And anything you do, you must defer to them, rather than anybody else. Let me tell you this, emphatically, that I will rather disobey anybody than disobey my people because they have always stood by me,” Mr. Pele told newsmen Sunday, barely 16 hours after his defeat to his main contender, Rudolf Amenga-Etego, a legal practitioner and an environmentalist.

In 2007, Rudolf Amenga-Etego contested in the parliamentary primary and, citing some irregularities after his defeat to Abuga Pele (then incumbent MP) in that race, stood independent later at the main election. Both he and Pele shared the votes that could have secured the seat in that stronghold of the NDC. And so went the seat in 2008 to the New Patriotic Party (NPP) for the first time since 1992.

Pele contests results

Abuga Pele went into the Saturday’s electoral sprint, already ‘shot in the foot’ and ‘limping’ because of his alleged involvement in a purported financial scandal at the Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency (GYEEDA), now Youth Employment Agency (YEA).

Mr. Pele, who is still standing trial over the alleged malfeasance, finished with 4,177 votes behind Mr. Amenga-Etego who obtained 4,337 votes. Jonathan Nyaaba, the youngest contender in the race, got 825 votes.

Whilst some analysts have concluded that Mr. Pele’s main opponent may have successfully used his court trial to campaign against him in the buildup to the primary, the veteran legislator says he did not lose the election. He cited some inaccuracies in the collation of the results as part of reasons for his defeat.

“Aside from all the forces against me, the forces of certain interest groups who wanted me out, this court case and how they tried to utilise it even though unsuccessfully and so forth, if you count some of the results in the east zone, they are more than the registered voters. This is factual and anybody who challenges it should go and conduct the count. I believe I won yesterday’s primary. In some cases, security personnel were attacked by my opponent’s group. I was in one of the polling stations, Krugu, where security personnel were being pushed around. Even though it was after 5 o’clock, they insisted that people would still join the queue and vote,” Mr. Pele said.

He added: “The whole election results in boxes from the west zone arrived without any security. When they finished all the counting and collation, I was leading by six votes. And then, suddenly, it occurred to somebody that not all the boxes had come; they forgot one box in the vehicle. So, they went for it. That was what turned the results in favour of my opponent. Even my opponent, when he realised I was leading, took his vehicle and left (the collation centre). This should tell you something. But in all this, I still want to allow things to go as they are. I am an ardent believer in what God decides.”

National executives wanted Pele out

Mr. Pele also revealed that some national executives of his party strongly backed his main opponent’s candidature against his bid to return to Parliament.

He highlighted a crushing heap of pressure he said he had to endure going into the primary.

“Some of the national executives did not want me to contest. Some of them are very fair-minded. But there are others who tried to manipulate the system, even to get rid of me for their own reasons. The primary was delayed unduly. Some said I was in court. Some said I had stepped on toes. I’m generally a peaceful person and how I stepped on these toes I don’t know,” he disclosed.

“You can see that yesterday the NPP were jubilating. They were very jubilant because, as they were saying, if I emerged winner they had a very difficult task of winning the seat. But if it’s my opponent, it’s easier because of the way he conducted his campaign. It turned that my opponent won; so, they (the NPP) were very jubilant,” the MP added.

Chiana-Paga seat now for NPP

The general feeling among the supporters of the ousted lawmaker is that he has been unfairly treated and grossly cheated.

Speaking to Starr News, a number of the supporters say they have resolved to have him now go into the 2016 as an independent candidate not just to prove a point to his antagonists but also to ensure that the seat does not fall again into the hands of the NPP as it did in 2008. They are very confident that, with Pele even as an independent candidate, the seat will not go to the NPP again this time around.

“Even if I have to sell my slippers to make sure Pele goes independent and campaign for him to return to Parliament, I would do it. Rudolf has only won the primary. I tell you, he can’t go to Parliament. He won’t enter there. We began to lose the seat to the NPP since Pele lost the primary yesterday. They didn’t treat Pele fairly at all. They wanted to destroy him. He really is a man; otherwise, he could have died by now or contracted a serious disease,” Abdulai Mumuni Atipaga, a well-respected businessman at the Paga Border, told Starr News Sunday.

For Madam Bimata Nurudeen, it is payback time against Rudolf Amenga-Etego. She also believes the election was manipulated against Mr. Pele.

“Abuga Pele could have won the primary by about 500 votes but it changed that Rudolf won. They cheated him. As for me, I will never vote for NPP in my life. A lot of people will not come out to vote on the Election Day, many people will not vote, because Abuga Pele is not part of the election. So, Abuga Pele must go independent to protect our seat. When Pele won Rudolf in 2007, people supported him to go independent. We are also saying Pele should go independent. We will support him. And he will win,” she affirmed.

Some of the constituents claim some NPP supporters had, with the aid of insiders even at the party’s regional level, managed to infiltrate the NDC’s voters’ register, particularly the east zone of the constituency, and had successfully taken part in the Saturday’s primary to eliminate their main threat, Abuga Pele. And some say the NDC now has four shaky seats that are likely to fall into the hands of the NPP at the 2016 polls, with the Chiana-Paga base being the latest to be considered insecure for the NDC. The existing three, according to them, are the Bolgatanga Central, the Bongo and the Gaur seats.