A group calling itself the NPP Concerned Youth for Walewale has urged the presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia, to summon the MP for Walewale, Hajia Lariba Abudu Zuwera, or the party risks losing the Walewale seat in December 2024.
The incumbent MP and the immediate former minister for gender, children, and social protection entered the primary contest with four others and lost in the NPP primary.
Mahama Tia Abdul Kabiru, a technical adviser to Vice President Bawumia, defeated the MP by seven votes, 345 and 338, respectively.
Following the primaries in January 2024, the EC declared Mahama Tia Abdul Kabiru the winner but Hajia Lariba Abudu Zuwera, who received 338 votes, disagreed with the election results and filed a suit at the Tamale High Court to seek justice.
The move has caused disunity in the party in the constituency.
The group is urging the National Executive Council of the party and the vice-president to resolve the issue between Hajia Lariba Abudu Zuwera and Mahama Tia Abdul Kabiru internally instead of in court.
In a press conference organised by the NPP Concerned Youth for Walewale read by Joseph Kuzuri on Wednesday (19 June 2024) the youth said, “We are calling on the NEC and flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party, the venerable Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia, to call Hajia Lariba Abudu Zuwera, the MP for Walewale, to order because her conduct is causing disaffection in the party in Walewale today.”
“The MP who benefited from the party structures and support during the primaries now disputes the outcome, her refusal to accept defeat and support the elected candidate may harm the party’s chance in [the] 2024 elections and beyond.”
“We urge the party leadership to intervene and persuade her to accept the will of the people and support the elected candidate, Alhaji Tia Mahama Kabiru. We feel that her conduct may cause us defeat and harm the party’s unity. We cannot allow individual interests to hold the party hostage. It will not happen,” it added.
However, one of the members of the group, Dauda Latif, reiterated this in an interview with Asaase News after the press conference: “I don’t see any issue that they should take it to court…”
Meanwhile, the case is still at the Tamale High Court in the Northern Region, where the MP, Hajia Lariba Abudu Zuwera, is demanding that the EC bring the election results to the court for recounting.
Reporting by Dokurugu Alhassan in the North East Region
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