Hargeisa (SD) – Parliamentary candidate Aden Qassim Suleiman of the Waddani party, who was recently released from prison, described his arrest as unfair and politically motivated.

The candidate claimed that his arrest was carried out by Kulmiye party officials who wanted to take his house of representative constituency seat in the upcoming election.

“My imprisonment was politically motivated, and the Kulmiye party tried to take the voters in my constituency,” he said.

Qassim also alleged that some of the Kulmiye party’s candidates in his region were making promises to the people, in order to undermine his candidacy.

I’m not aware if a candidate is able to award any positions in the government, however, they were saying, I will give you a position, make you a director, make you a minister and promote you,” he said.

He also accused Kulmiye officials in the region of using the country’s armed force for campaigning.

Aden Qassim Suleiman will be the first candidate to give details of his imprisonment since he and other opposition candidates were released from prison earlier this week.