THE National Democratic Congress (NDC) parliamentary candidate for Effiduasi Asokore in the Ashanti Region, John Awuku Dzuazah, is in hot waters, as a leading member of his own party is calling for his head over allegations that he defiled a teenage girl sometime ago, which made the victim an imbecile in the process.

Kwasi Kuma Mawunyo, NDC branch vice chairman for Oworamso, alleged that about five years ago, Mr. Awuku defiled Sophia Attaa, then below 16 years old, which made the girl an imbecile.

He lamented that members of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the area were aware of Mr. Awuku’s alleged illicit act and were therefore waiting for the campaign period to reach its peak so they would use it against the NDC.

The NDC man claimed that young Sophia Attaa was currently at a prayer camp at Effiduasi receiving treatment, adding that the matter was an open secret in the constituency so the NDC would lose votes with Mr. Awuku as its candidate.

Mr. Mawunyo said he had petitioned the NDC at the national and regional levels to quickly replace Mr. Awuku who was morally bankrupt, with a person that was upright and socially acceptable to lead the NDC to avert defeat.

He said the NDC was yet to take a decision on Mr. Awuku almost two months since he petitioned the party, warning that the party would lose the Effiduasi Asokore parliamentary polls with Mr. Awuku as its candidate.

The NDC branch vice chairman warned that if the ruling party failed to replace the candidate in the coming days, he would personally go to court for an injunction to be placed on the candidature of Mr. Awuku.

“I will take the matter to court whenever the EC announces for parliamentary candidates to file their forms,” the aggrieved NDC vice branch chairman for Oworamso told DAILY GUIDE.

When contacted, the NDC Ashanti Regional Secretary, Joseph Yammin, confirmed that indeed the party had received complaints that Mr. Awuku about five years ago when the party was in opposition, had a sexual issue with a teenager.

He said the party, upon receiving the complaint, quickly started investigations into the matter, debunking concerns that the ruling party was dragging its feet on the issue.

Yammin noted that the NDC’s investigations so far had revealed that the sex allegation was duly investigated by the police and the BNI about five years ago, and Mr. Awuku was cleared of all charges.

The NDC scribe said upon thorough investigations into the matter, the NDC as a political party, also did not uncover any wrongdoing on the part of its parliamentary candidate for Effiduasi Asokore.

He noted that security agencies like the police and BNI had cleared Mr. Awuku of all charges, and the NDC therefore decided to allow the parliamentary candidate of Effiduasi Asokore to contest the seat on the party’s ticket.

Yammin stated emphatically that as far as the NDC was concerned, Mr. Awuku was clean and eligible to contest the seat on the NDC’s ticket, urging those who had a problem with Mr. Awuku’s candidature to go to court to seek redress.

Meanwhile, all attempts to reach Mr. Awuku, who is an engineer by profession, to give his side of the story proved futile, as he did not answer the paper’s call on his MTN mobile line.