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THE RULING National Democratic Congress (NDC) has made a sudden u-turn barely a fortnight after calling the bluff of its disgruntled members who threatened to contest as independent parliamentary candidates at various constituencies in the Northern region. Daily Guide can confirm that a mediation committee led by Alhaji Mahama Iddrisu, a member of the Council of State and Alhaji Hudu Yahaya, NDC National Vice Chairman, visited the region last week to settle the impasse. The decision by the NDC to back down on its entrenched stance of expelling members who defied directives to file as independent candidates was reportedly informed by research which revealed the party could lose in the affected areas. To avert these looming defeats, the party reportedly sunk huge sums of money and other mouth-watering packages into convincing the said candidates not to file by the close of nominations. This was evident when the paper noticed that a number of independent parliamentary candidates who were known members of the party failed to return their nomination forms as required by the Electoral Commission by the close of day last Friday. It is however unclear if these individuals will mount campaign platforms to support the contesting incumbent MPs who they are not on good terms with. Our investigations revealed that though the mediation team had been able to pressure a number of the independent aspirants into not contesting; their supporters have threatened not to vote for the NDC. The electoral fortunes of NDC in the Northern region continue suffer setbacks following divisions among its ranks before, during and after its parliamentary primaries. It was gathered that more than 10 disillusioned parliamentary aspirants from the party were bracing themselves to contest as independent candidates in the December polls irrespective of pleas from the party�s leadership. The aggrieved aspirants who had begun campaigning believed their disqualification from contesting the party�s primaries were orchestrated. Others blamed their loss on the party�s hierarchy for allegedly conniving with incumbent MPs to deny them the slots after allegedly inducing delegates. Prominent among the affected constituencies where these independent candidates emerged were Mion, Tamale Central, Sagnerigu East, Sagnerigu North, Walewale and Kumbungu. Prince Ibrahim Tanko initially tipped for Mion and Mohammed Abdul-Salam for Sagnerigu East, both threw in the towel at the last minute after meeting the team. However Mahama Shaibu and Mohammed Amin Mobilla for Tamale Central, and one other person (name withheld) for Sagnerigu North, have since filed their nominations and will go ahead to contest as independent parliamentary candidates.