John Ndebugre, a former member of parliament of Zebilla who lost in his bid to become an assembly member at the Timonde Electoral Area of the Bawku West District in the Upper East region has blamed Majority Leader in Parliament, Cletus Avoka for his failure to win the seat. Ndebugre alleges that Cletus Avoka who defeated him in the 2008 parliamentary elections resourced the Bawku West District Chief Executive and other loyalists of the MP to undermine his bid to become the assembly member for the area. Mr John Ndebugre’s decision to run for the district assembly elections was described as a major self-demotion never seen in the country’s recent political history. John Ndebugre who switched allegiance from the Peoples National Convention (PNC) to the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) after he lost the parliamentary seat in the 2008 elections was handed a political blow when 38-year old Julius Ayaaba beat him to the assembly seat. But Mr. Ndebugre has accused the majority leader of doling out money and other material things to ensure his defeat in the elections as victory for him would have made him a bigger threat to Mr. Avoka’s re-election in 2012. Speaking to Citi FM in Accra, Mr. Ndebugre said "the Majority leader Cletus Avoka came and reinforced the efforts of the District Chief Executive and they were going all over the place distributing money, distributing cloth, cutting roads. A small elections like that with just three polling stations and you are coming with caterpillars to construct roads and going to families and distributing cloth and giving them money to go and sew." Further explaining what he thought was a demeaning posture by the Majority Leader and other supporters, Mr. Ndebugre added, "they were all over the place. There is an area just beyond my residence and he was not there himself but the DCE and the Upper East regional representative of the Council of State who is also a bishop, an Anglican Bishop went with food [and] drinks… and the bishop was nearly beaten and he ran for his life… I am saying it on authority, the bishop had to run for his life.” He said people are coming to him with all manner of concerns as the district takes such elections very seriously. Story by Derick Romeo Adogla/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana