Ablekuma North Violence: Police Reviewing Viral Videos To Identify Culprits

The police are consequently collaborating with relevant state agencies to identify actors in the violent scenes. The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Christian Tetteh Yohuno, disclosed this in Accra when he, along with the Minister of Defence, Dr Edward Omane Boamah, and the Minister for the Interior, Muntaka Mohammed-Mubarak, held a closed-door meeting with Parliament’s joint committees of Defence and Interior, and Security and Intelligence on the Ablekuma North incident, the civil conflict in Bawku and other issues. Briefing the media after the meeting, the Chairperson of the Defence and Interior Committee, James Agalga, said the joint committees would submit their report to the Speaker of Parliament in due course.

Mr Agalga said over the past few days quite a number of security issues had emerged. He named them as the escalation of the Bawku conflict that had led to the loss of several lives along the Bawku-Bazoa highway and the Walewale-Tamale highway. He further mentioned the violence that characterised the Ablekuma North election during the partial re-run of the parliamentary race in the 19 polling stations. As a result of these two important security issues, the joint committees found it necessary to invite the Minister of Defence, the Minister for the Interior and the IGP to appear before us to afford the committees to apprise the members on the developments, he said.

The MP for Builsa North said the members of the two committees were particularly interested in knowing what steps were being taken to ensure that those who engaged in acts of violence at the Ablekuma North partial election were apprehended and dealt with in accordance with the law. 

 Reporting to Parliament

“In due course, we shall present to the Speaker a report emanating from the engagements we had today,” he said. “The ministers and the IGP gave us the assurance that with respect to the Ablekuma North election, they are reviewing some videos which went viral, and in due course the perpetrators would be arrested and dealt with in accordance with the law,” he said. Mr Agalga added that the security officer seen in a viral video assaulting a journalist during the Ablekuma North election had been interdicted and was being dealt with in accordance with the law.

With respect to the Bawku conflict, he said state security gave an assurance that a number of measures were in place to ensure that safety was restored to the Bawku area and the Walewale-Tamale highway. He said the two ministers and the IGP further briefed the legislators on measures being taken to prevent a recurrence of the violence that characterised the Ablekuma North election.