Police arrest 12 in Chereponi over DCE nominee protest
The police in the Chereponi District in the North East Region have arrested 12 persons believed to be associated with the violent protest that heralded Nana Akufo-Addo’s nomination of Zuweiratu Mada Nashiru, as the District Chief Executive for the area.
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) youth at Chereponi in the North East Region destroyed some structures after the nomination of Nashiru as DCE was announced over the weekend instead of one S. K. Orlando, who they were hoping would get the nod of the President.
Following the disturbances, the police conducted a swoop at dawn on 21 September 2021, and arrested 12 suspects.
The twelve(12) suspects are; Kwabena Manteng (43), Iddrisu Abdul-Rahaman (42), Sumaila Ibrahim (16), Kasim Abdul-Aziz (28), Kasim Latif (65), and Ibrahim Awuffor (23).
The rest are Osman Yussif (36), Mohammed Abdul-Latif (29), Fuseini Bawah (30), Kwame Mahamud (31). Bashiru Ayabli (29) and Arimiyaw (22). The suspects have subsequently been conveyed to the Regional Police Headquarters in Nalerigu for further action.
The President, Akufo-Addo through the Minister for Local Government and Decentralisation, Dan Botwe, released the full list of all 260 metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives on 19 September 2021. The announcement has been met with pockets of violence in some parts of the country.
Apart from the Chereponi situation, some aggrieved supporters of the NPP in the Tema Central constituency earlier locked up the party’s office in protest of the president’s nomination of Yohane Armah Ashitey as the MCE for Tema.
In the Odododiodoo constituency, some youth in the area also protested against the nomination of Elizabeth Sackey as the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) Chief Executive to replace Mohammed Nii Adjei Sowah, as Mayor of Accra.
They blocked the high street at the central business district and burned car tyres to register their displeasure with the President’s decision.
The list of the MMDCEs has been forwarded to the various regional ministers. The regional ministers are expected to contact the Electoral Commission, which will commence processes for assembly elections on the various nominees.
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