The Deputy Director of Elections of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mahdi Jibril, has dismissed the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) decision to withdraw from the Tamale Central by-election, describing it as “a cheap political point” rather than an act of moral principle.
Speaking to ABC News GH, he accused the NPP of engaging in double standards and playing to the gallery.
“They are playing a double standard,” Mahdi Jibril asserted. “It’s a cheap political point they want to score. It’s not based on any moral grounds for the NPP.”
His comments follow the NPP’s announcement that it would not field a candidate in the by-election triggered by the death of the area’s MP, Alhaji Hon. Dr. Murtala Mohammed, in the August 6 helicopter crash.
Mahdi Jibril criticised the ruling party for masking political strategy as respect for national mourning.
“They should give us a break; we have gone past this cheap politics. We don’t think politics is that way,” he stressed, noting that the NDC would fully participate in the contest. The NPP’s withdrawal, he insisted, fails to align with their actions elsewhere.
