The NPP delegate who collapsed and died after favourite candidate lost constituency election
Delegates of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) who thronged the auditorium of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) hall last Thursday to elect executive for the Bolgatanga Central Constituency were thrown into shock when one of them collapsed and died.
The deceased, Paul Azika, 37, a government appointee of the Bolgatanga Municipal Assembly, reportedly collapsed, the moment the results of the elections was announced and his preferred candidate, Awudu Asonga, lost the chairmanship to Kwame Anaba by just two votes.
Mr Anaba emerged winner with 355 votes while Mr Asonga secured 353 s while a third contender. Abdul-man Alhassan Amalba polled 77 votes of the 797 valid votes cast.
Deceased
Azika, a chief campaigner of Asonga, was optimistic that his candidate was going to emerge winner in the chairmanship.
However, when the results were declared, Azika collapsed, resulting in some of the delegates rushing him to the Bolgatanga Regional Hospital for emergency medical care.
Unfortunately, he was pronounced dead on arrival at the facility.
The shocking death of Azika has thrown party members into a state of mourning as they cannot fathom why a vibrant party member can pass on in such a tragic manner.
They described it as a big blow to the party in both the constituency and the region.
According to information gathered by Graphic Online, members of the Bolgatanga Municipal Assembly had scheduled to elect a Presiding Member (PM) for the
assembly Friday after a failed attempt about two weeks ago but it had to be postponed due to Azika's tragic death.
How it happened
Confirming the incident to Graphic Online on Friday, the immediate past First Vice Chairman of the constituency, Thomas Ayoore Adams, said as a result of the delay in starting the election, voting and counting ran late into the evening.
He stated that after the counting of Anaba's votes (the first on the ballot), it came to light that he had secured 351 votes, which gave hope to the supporters of Asonga that their candidate would win with a slim margin.