Bugri Naabu warns Police Commander to stay off NPP internal elections

The Northern regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Daniel Bugri Naabu has renewed his accusations against the Northern Regional Minister, Salifu Saeed and some District Chief Executives (DCEs) in the region of working to thwart his re-election bid.

At a press briefing in Tamale Wednesday April 25, 2018, the embittered chairman accused Mr Saeed and DCEs for Gamabaga and Bunkpurugu, Abdul Nashir Danladi and Oscar Liwal respectively of preventing constituency elections from taking place in constituencies considered his strong hold.

This, he said, is an attempt to deny him votes from those constituencies and to give unfair advantage to their preferred candidate, Adam Mohammed Samba.

The NPP will hold its Regional Delegates Conference in the region on Saturday April 28, 2018 to elect regional executives.

Mr Naabu, over the past few months, has been pointing accusing fingers at leading members of the NPP in the region of hatching a plan to make sure he is defeated in the upcoming regional elections.

The latest addition to his “adversaries” is the Northern regional Police Commander, ACP Patrick Adusei Sarpong who is accuses of interfering in the internal elections of the party to his (Mr Naabu) disadvantage.

“The regional Minister, the regional Police Commander and the DCEs are antagonizing the NPP elections. The Police Commander [and] regional Minister don’t co-operate. DCEs like the Gambaga DCE [and] Bunkpurugu DCE are interfering in the election because Samba is behind them,” he alleged.

He warned the police commander to stay away from the internal affairs of the party or seek transfer elsewhere.

“He’s been doing this and I’ve been talking to him. This region doesn’t belong to him. If he is an NDC he should leave the region and go to another region. We are not going to sit down and allow him to do what he wants. The region belongs to us and we must determine the fate of the region because you are a security man. You are to protect lives and “security”, you are not to interfere in politics. If you want to be a politician go and put down your uniform and join the queue,” he advised ACP Sarpong.

According to Mr Naabu, though the party has secured clearance from the court to proceed with the elections in the affected constituencies, the named people insist that elections in those constituencies will not come off.

He sent a clear signal that the party will hold the appointees and the commander responsible if elections are not held in those areas.

“Why don’t they want some people to vote while others can vote? They said Yunyoo and Nalerigu are my stronghold so whatever they will do they will do [it] to block them not to be able to vote, including Tamale Central. I will send a memo to the president. Whether they like or not I’m still the chairman and after the voting if I’m no more the chairman they can do whatever they want. What is their problem?” a visibly angry Naabu quizzed.