I endorsed Mahama but I knew he would lose –Hassan Ayariga

The 2016 All People’s Congress flagbearer Hassan Ayariga has said although he endorsed President Mahama in the 2016 elections, he knew the NDC candidate was going to lose.

He said President Mahama’s campaign was doomed to fail because the disconnection between the party and the grassroots was glaring.

This disconnect became obvious to him after he found out that out of the 200 people who came to register to join his six-month-old party daily, 90% were defectors from the NDC.

He said he founded his party largely from NDC defectors who felt sidelined. Providing further evidence to back his claim of a despondent NDC grassroot, he said the 2016 election results validate his views.

According to him, the NPP largely maintained its 2012 votes but the NDC lost at least a million of its 2012 votes.

Yet before the election, Hassan Ayariga, disqualified by the Electoral Commission, endorsed the NDC incumbent John Mahama.

The APC leader explained he endorsed John Mahama because he called to console him for his political misfortune.

He told Joy FM Super Morning Show Friday this act of commiseration was also followed by similar calls from the CPP Presidential candidate Ivor Greenstreet and an independent candidate Jacob Osei Yeboah.

‘The NPP never called me,’ the businessman said.

At a meeting to choose which party to endorse, Ayariga said the regional executives voted to endorse John Mahama.

He said he cast the last ballot to throw his party’s untested weight behind the tested candidature of President John Mahama who eventually lost.