The Minority Leader of Parliament, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, has disclosed that he refused to put himself up to contest for the Speaker of Parliament slot despite pressure from some party stalwarts to do so.

Mr Iddrisu made this revelation at a thanksgiving event held in honour of the Speaker of Parliament, Mr Alban Bagbin, in the Waala Traditional Area of the Upper West Region.

He told the congregation: “A group of NDC MPs led by Mahama Ayariga and some of our colleagues even, surprisingly, at that time, supported by my able Whip Honourable Muntaka, had come to my office to lure me and to encourage me to run for the position of Speaker and without any hesitation, I declined their bid”.

“Going forward, I knew in my heart, God will have favour on someone among us, therefore, in a subsequent meeting of the Minority Caucus, I had questioned Mahama Ayariga and my colleagues that I was not too sure whether they had my mandate or my authority to proceed further with their good intentions.

“Then, in a meeting with the NDC’s highest leadership somewhere in the offices of former President Mahama, I said to the group that my candidate for Speaker was among us and pointed to Alban Bagbin and Honourable Aseidu Nketiah. Before I could finish speaking, Asiedu Nketiah held the hand of Honourable Bagbin strongly and said ‘it should be Bagbin’”.

“Little did I know God’s favour was vested in him”, the Tamale South MP said.

Mr Iddrisu expressed confidence that he knew Mr Bagbin would be fair and firm as Speaker and serve Ghana well.

Ghana’s longest-serving lawmaker was elected as the Speaker of the Eighth Parliament of the Fourth Republic after a chaotic voting exercise in the chamber of parliament in the early hours of Thursday, 7 January 2020.

He was elected over the New Patriotic Party's nominee, Prof Mike Oquaye, who had served as Speaker of the Seventh Parliament.