NPP office pulled down

New Patriotic Party) (NPP) faithful in the Yendi constituency of the Northern region are fuming with rage over the sudden demolition of the constituency office.

The demolition exercise, which was sanctioned by the Yendi Municipal assembly, took place on the dawn of last Tuesday. The demolishers, who pulled down the structure and others in that area, were accompanied by armed military and police personnel and were reported to have carted two packets of roofing sheets away.

Daily guide’s sources revealed that the area had been earmarked for construction of market stores by authorities of the Yendi Municipal Assembly, but the assembly allegedly failed to notify the victims before the demolition exercise. Most of the victims, after the demolition, were seen busily counting their losses as a number of properties were destroyed in the process, particularly iron containers.

Meanwhile, a report by a seven-member technical team, signed by Alhaji Shehu A. Kakiri, Municipal Coordinating Director, and date 12th April 2010, had noted that any structure that would be later put up in the future could impede the construction of a dual carriage road and bring about congestion.

The report had also indicated that any attempt to put up structures on the area in question would affect the Internal Revenue (IRS) building, and therefore recommended that the 40-unit market stores should be reconsidered. According to the report, it was recommended that a one face project should be adopted in order to leave enough space for further developments in the area, insisting that the community centre in the area should be walled to ward off encroachers.

But in less than a year after the report was presented, the assembly embarked on an unannounced demolition exercise and allegedly pulled down structures without prior notice to the owners. When contacted, Fusheini Bawah Zakaria Kpana, Yendi constituency secretary of the NPP, confirmed the demolition of the party’s secretariat and indicated that a number of party property had been destroyed.

He accused the current administration of trying to employ various ways of intimidating members of the NPP in the area hinting that they were not prepared in any way to react in a manner that could destabilize peace.

The party’s scribe urged members to remain calm as the party looked for an alternative office, adding that no matter how the ruling party treated them, the NPP would emerge victorious in 2012.