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Deputy Information Minister Baba Jamal has threatened to sue any individual who associates him with �Jihad� (Muslim holy war). Jamal, who had declared a holy war in the run-up to the Akwatia re-run election, yesterday warned that �enough is enough� with associating him with the Islamic Jihad. However, Alhaji Umar Bodinga, Eastern regional NPP First Vice Chairman, has accepted the gauntlet, daring Baba Jamal to fast-track his court action, pointing out that the deputy Information Minister, who at the time was the deputy Eastern regional minister, did declare Jihad. Somewhere in August 2009, he was alleged to have asked the Muslims at a Friday service in a mosque in the diamond-town of Akwatia in the Eastern region to consider the re-run election in six polling stations in the constituency as a Jihad and urged them to join. But yesterday, Baba Jamal, who seems to be encountering a hell of time saving his name and reputation over this and other allegations of trying to influence journalists with cash and goodies to do government�s bidding, said he would take anybody who associated him with Jihad to court. Though he was reported to have admitted having asked his Muslim brothers and sisters to wage a Jihad in a non-violent way, the Deputy Minister now insists he never said anything to that effect. After the proclamation and the subsequent outbreak of violence, Baba Jamal was heard loud on a number of radio stations explaining what he meant by Jihad. He contested the Akwatia parliamentary seat with the New Patriotic Party (NPP) candidate and now Member of Parliament, Dr. Isaac Kofi Asare, in a closely-fought race, which saw hoodlums of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) running riot. The Eastern regional NPP Vice Chairman, who was in charge of operations for his party during the re-run elections, Alhaji Umar Bodinga, dared to proceed to court, insisting that Baba Jamal indeed used the word Jihad. �He can�t say so; I�m telling you Baba can�t make that statement. If Baba can make that statement that he hasn�t said that, then it will be same thing like what he told the ISD staff that if you see a goat, you should take it as a cow,� he said. Bodinga therefore did not want to believe Baba could suddenly deny using the word Jihad, especially when he was there when the Deputy Minister was seeking to incite the people to engage in violent attacks. �I was part of the congregation in that mosque that day. He said they should come out for the six polling station elections and that it was a Jihad for all Muslims and the election was between Muslims and Christians. He used the word Jihad and he can�t deny it.� By declaring Jihad, the Eastern regional Vice Chairman of the NPP said, Baba thought he could influence the Muslim community to vote for him but it did not go that way.