Haruna Iddrisu, a former member of the minority caucus in parliament, turned down a seat that was offered to him on Thursday.

The Member of Parliament for Tamale South revealed that Collins Dauda, who represents Asutifi South, was offered the position but was unable to accept it because he is his senior colleague.

Using the seat of First Deputy Speaker of Parliament Joseph Osei Owusu, he stated this during a presentation to a discussion on the African Union Convention on Cross-Border Cooperation, generally known as the Niamey Convention.

Later, he apologized to the First Deputy Speaker of Parliament for declining the position that had been offered to him, explaining that he did so out of respect for elders.

“Mr. Speaker, forgive me if I had to assume your chair. There was some discussion about whether I should take over from Collins Dauda, and I told them that Collins is senior by age, and I am somebody who is well trained at home, so any other chair is acceptable to me. I am still the elected Member of Parliament for Tamale South.”

Cassiel Ato Forson replaced Haruna Iddrisu as the Minority Leader on January 24 after executives of the NDC decided to reshuffle their leadership.

Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, MP for Ellembelle, also took over as Deputy Minority Leader from Ketu North MP James Klutse Avedzi, and Kwame Governs Agbodza took over as Minority Chief Whip from Asawase MP Muntaka Mubarak.