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 race in the Damongo Constituency of the Northern Region.
Alhaji Limuna revealed that he was attacked spiritually by some persons, stating that his refusal to step down would have led to deaths.
“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 said.
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 press men which was very unusual.
The minister also noted that during an open meeting, an unnamed constituency executive declared that what happened in 1996 would occur in the 2015 parliamentary primaries.
He explained that in 1996, a group of NDC supporters, including a prominent member popularly called Amingo died, indicating that he was not prepared to sacrifice a life for his political ambition.
He expressed worry about how spirituality had become prominent in the internal party contest in the constituency.
According to him, he could still help his people and was therefore not bothered about his withdrawal from the race.
“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 he 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 in 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 to prevail in the constituency, adding that as an ardent and practicing Muslim, he would 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 10 seats the party lost in 2012 election.
According to him, the party lost a number of seats due to the selfish attitude by some aspirants during the last primaries.
I am aware some aspirants are contesting based on their own selfish interests and if they lose they end up turning their backs on the party, he indicated.
Alhaji Limuna also advised aspirants to wary of the way in which 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.
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