Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Ofosu Ampofo has defended the reason behind pulling out of the Ayawaso West Wuogon bye-elections. General Secretary for the NDC Johnson Asiedu Nketiah has said he has problems with the fact that the Chairman unilaterally decided to pull out of the election without consulting the leadership of the party. He has described the decision by the Chairman of the party as weak; an indication that he is not fit to occupy the seat. But reacting to claims that it was the worst decision ever, Ofosu Ampofo who spoke to Accra-based UTV said he had to protect the lives of their representatives at the various polling stations whose lives were threatened. “We had sent representatives to the various polling stations. These persons were supposed to have been protected by the security provided by the state. However, the same security provided by the state were the one shooting at them so my decision was borne out of protecting the lives of these people. We get intelligence most of the time and that influences the decisions we take. If I hadn’t taken that decision, the outcome would have been volatile. Something nastier would have happened and so we took that to prevent that. I want to tell our people that leadership would have to take decisions that may not be popular but desirable and as a leader once you have certain information and know that you’ve to protect your people to avoid bloodshed and death, sometimes you take that decision to save a situation. “ The Chairman of the NDC indicated that he never took the decision unilaterally but consulted. He mentioned names like Totobi Kwakye, Kwasi Della Brempong among others as persons he consulted with before taking the final decision to pull out of the election.