Why I pulled out of NDC race – Alhaji Muniru-Limuna

The Northern Regional Minister Alhaji Mohammed Muniru-Limuna has finally broken his silence over circumstances leading to his withdrawal from the National Democratic Congress (NDC) parliamentary in the Damongo Constituency of the Northern Region.

Alhaji Limuna revealed that he was being attacked spiritually by persons he failed to name but stated that the repercussions of his refusal to step down would have led to death which is why he bowed out of the race quickly.

“I saw what was coming and I decided that for the sake of unity, I Muniru will not allow anyone to die because I want to become MP’’. He disclosed.

He disclosed that the spiritual attack on him was so severe that at the launch of his support group Friends Of Alhaji Mohammed (FOAM) in Damongo, his family struggled for four hours to prepare rice for pressmen which was very unusual.

The minister also recounted prior his decision, how, during an open meeting, an unnamed constituency executive declared that what happened in 1996 will happen in the 2015 parliamentary primaries.

He explained that in 1996, a group of NDC supporters died including a prominent member popularly called Amingo, indicating that he was not prepared to sacrifice a life for his political ambition expressing worry at how spirituality was manifesting into the internal party contest in the constituency.

According to him, whether MP or not MP he could still help his people and was therefore not bothered about people accusing him of pulling out of the contest for fear of an imminent defeat. “It is better to be afraid to keep the system united than to be a brave person to go and destroy the system” He stated.

The Northern Regional Minister it would be recalled left his supporters heartbroken when out of the blue pulled out of parliamentary primaries in the Damongo constituency where he was billed to give the incumbent Adam Mutawakilu a good run for his money.

It was rumored that President, John Dramani Mahama persuaded the minister to step down and allow the incumbent go for another term. The minister has since denied the involvement of the President of his withdrawal from the race few days after he had picked nomination forms.

He maintained that he personally envisaged trouble and felt the need to allow peace prevail in the constituency as and an ardent and practicing Muslim, who must not sacrifice a life regardless of the situation for political gain.

Meanwhile Alhaji Limuna has reminded the aspirants in the region about the herculean task ahead of them to recapture all the ten seats the party lost in 2012 election.

According to him, the party lost a number of seats due to selfish attitude exhibited by some aspirants during the last election during the constituency primaries hinting that he was aware some aspirants are contesting based on their own selfish interests and if they lose they end up turning their back to the party.

Alhaji Limuna also advised Aspirants to beware of the way and manner they go about their campaigns on radio and urged them to control their followers who go round making unnecessary and violent utterances about their opponents.