Haruna Iddrisu accused of instigating violence in Northern Region

The Member of Parliament for the Tamale South Constituency and Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu has been accused of masterminding the shooting incident that happened in the Savelugu constituency after the Monday general elections.

The youth of the ruling New Patriotic Party at a news conference on Thursday also accused the Savelugu Municipal Director of the electoral commission of being in bed with the NDC and allegedly receiving instructions from the Tamale South lawmaker to declare the NDC candidate as winner of the parliamentary elections.

According to the youth, the EC Director was paid an amount of 55, 000 Ghana cedis to declare the parliamentary candidate of the opposition NDC when they (NPP) brought to the notice of the EC infractions such as over voting that engulfed some polling stations in the constituency.

Leader of the youth, Tahiru Alhassan noted further the minority leader should be held responsible for the gun firing in some parts of the constituency allegedly being perpetrated by members of the NDC.

The Savelugu Municipal Police Commander, DSP Twumasi Ankrah had earlier confirmed to THE CUSTODIAN the killing of a teenager believed to be a 17-year girl as a result a gunshot and other individuals sustaining gunshot wounds.

The Commander identified the wounded persons as Zakaria Samata (55), Musah Fuseini (14), Zakaria Samira (30) and one other Azara Yussif who sustained a gunshot wound in the breast. He explained the gunshots were heard in the midst of a crowd of NDC supporters when they heard the NDC candidate was projected to win the parliamentary elections.

“And the police, when we went there we could see that the person who fired did not fire from outside but within the group because we picked some of the empty shells and with our examination this morning it is obvious that the person who fired, if it were somebody who targeted to kill them, maybe would’ve fired from a distance of 100 meters or away but it was a close range and the empty shells were lying like 2 meters from the victims” he explained.

In view of this, the youth said Mr. Haruna Iddrisu and the NDC parliamentary candidate should be questioned the violence in the area and threatened to resist any attempt to impose any candidate on the people contrary to who they voted for in the elections.

Tahiru Alhassan said the attacks on harmless NPP supporters allegedly perpetuated by some members of the NDC must stop.

The Northern Regional Security Taskforce for the 2020 Election consequently arrested three suspects in connection to the shooting incident that led to the death of the teenager. A 60-year old Chief of Duko, Naa Mohammed Ahmed and two others were also arrested in a swoop by the Taskforce Wednesday night.

The Northern Region Police Commander, COP Timothy Yoosa Bonga confirmed to Journalists in Tamale on Thursday (10 December, 2020) that an AK-47 rifle loaded with 40 rounds of ammunition and G3 rifle ammunition was retrieved from the home of the Duko Chief.

He added that another AK-47 assault rifle with two magazines loaded with 60 rounds of ammunition was also retrieved from the NDC parliamentary candidate, Alhaji Iddrisu Yakubu Abdulai at his office upon a search and implored him to report personally to the police for interrogation and noted the police would’ve no option but to effect his arrest if he fails to do so.

Meanwhile, the New Patriotic Party has disagreed with the outcome of the Savelugu parliamentary election, citing instances of over voting in some polling stations after the 7 December general elections.

The party mentioned the Ying D/A Pri polling station (M110705) and Kadia D/A Pri polling station (M112301) where the infraction occurred.