Alabar riots: Police to prosecute culprits

Police in the Ashanti Region have reiterated that that they will not “tolerate” any individual who hides behind the cloak of politics to create disturbances in the region, announcing that they will soon bring before court persons arrested in Thursday’s violence at Alabar, a suburb of Kumasi.

Over 20 armed police officers on March 2 took over the Aboabo bus station at Alabar in Kumasi after a brawl ensued between some members of the two main parties – the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and National Democratic Congress (NDC) – who are claiming ownership of the facility.

Class FM’s Ashanti regional correspondent, Hafiz Tijani, reported that the NPP supporters, who were wielding offensive weapons, stormed the lorry station to take over the management of the facility in light of the victory of their party in the 2016 presidential elections, only to be met with fierce opposition from some armed supporters of the NDC.

Eight persons sustained injuries and have undergone treatment at the Manhyia Government Hospital.

Police also retrieved a sack containing weapons from a loaded truck at the terminal, while picking up leadership of both factions to assist in investigations.

Addressing journalists in Kumasi on the same day, DCOP Ken Yeboah, the Ashanti regional police commander, said persons found breaking the law in the name of politics should not be deluded into thinking they can go scot free as “there is nothing like political crime in our statutes”.

“Once there is nothing like a political crime, if crime is a crime, once you commit a crime, I will investigate it and if you are found culpable, we’ll put you before court. And so I am assuring you that anybody who is parading himself or who thinks that he has the political backing, I’m afraid, will not survive in this region because His Excellency the President himself has given us an ultimatum that we should prosecute anybody who commits crime and for that matter, that is what we are going to do,” he disclosed.

Shedding more light on what triggered the violence, he said some Abudu youth, who support the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), had tried to forcefully take back control of the Kumasi-Tamale lorry station at Alabar from an NDC-affiliated Andani group that violently took over the running of the station from them in 2009, when the NDC returned to power.

According to Mr Yeboah, following investigations conducted by police, it emerged that the feuding factions were both “squatters” as the land on which the station is situated belongs to the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA), but the police would still take the matter to court for it to determine who the true owner of the land is to bring about lasting peace.

“So I have asked that the executives be detained and then sent to court for the court to determine who owns the place, because from the little investigation conducted, the land belongs to the KMA,” he added.