I’ll not hold country to ransom — Hassan Ayariga

The disqualified presidential aspirant of the All People’s Congress (APC), Mr Hassan Ayariga, has said he will not hold the country to ransom following his disqualification by the Electoral Commission (EC).

Rather, he said, he would go to court to seek justice on account of his disqualification by the EC.He said he only wanted justice to right the wrongs committed by the EC against the APC, its supporters and the country as a whole.At a press conference at the APC's head office in Accra yesterday, Mr Ayariga said the EC chairperson disqualified him on personal grounds and not on technical grounds.That, he said, was because he had effected all the needed corrections on his nomination forms, including the substitution of the two people who were said to have subscribed to the APC and also subscribed to the People's National Convention (PNC).Besides, he said the APC had corrected all the 95 errors detected by the commission in relation to discrepancies with signatures. He had also supplied all his educational documents to the EC as demanded.No fair hearingThe APC flag bearer  was one of the 12  presidential aspirants disqualified by the EC after the presentation of their  nomination forms.The flag bearer, together with others,  was again disqualified after resubmitting his corrected forms last Tuesday as ordered by the Supreme Court.The APC had earlier won a court case at the High Court, which ordered the EC to allow the party to effect corrections to the anomalies detected in its nomination forms.Mr Ayariga accused the EC chairperson of giving a cold reception to the APC officials who went to re-submit his nomination forms last Monday and Tuesday.He claimed the EC refused to meet the party officials last Monday, and indicated that Mrs Charlotte Osei received the party's nomination forms last Tuesday but did not explain anything to them.He said he was, therefore, shocked to hear from the EC that he  had been disqualified.However, while announcing the  verdict last Wednesday, Mrs Osei stated that the hearings with the party representatives were amicable and all of them cooperated.She said contrary to media reports, there was no altercation between the commission and the party representatives, saying "the conversations were very civil."ResignationMr Ayariga said by her conduct, Mrs Osei was not qualified to organise the elections and asked her to resign or be sacked by the President.He claimed that her appointment as the EC boss was one of the greatest mistakes in the country's history.EC's 'inconsistency'Mr Ayariga claimed that Mrs Osei and the Deputy Commissioner in charge of Operations, Mr Amadu Sulley, had written letters to the APC with varying signatures.He showed three letters purportedly bearing varied signatures from Mrs Osei and two letters purportedly bearing varied signatures of Mr Sulley.Therefore, he said, it was wrong on the part of the EC to accuse the APC of having subscribers with varying signatures.Way forwardMr Ayariga asked all members of the APC to stay calm, and asked them to continue to campaign for the parliamentary candidates of the party.He said the party would announce the political party to support 10 days to the elections.