During the NPP Walewale primary re-run, warning bullets were fired while the ballot box was stolen.

This compelled the re-run of the Parliamentary primaries of the ruling New Patriotic Party to take a sour dimension, with the police firing warning shots in order to save the integrity of the process in the Walewale district.

It was gathered from Joy News that the sorting of the ballot papers was disrupted when a ballot box was forcibly taken away by one Akamari Bawa, who until that incident was the Chairman of the NPP for the Yagaba-Kubori constituency.

This, journalist Eliaso Tanko reports, was the development that boiled into a chaotic situation at the voting centre.

This ground the sorting process to a halt in the face of increasing and desperate competition between the incumbent Member of Parliament, Hajia Lariba Zuweratu, and Dr. Mahama Tia Kabiru, special advisor to the Vice President.

It is reported he was accosted during the period police fired the warning shots just before his arrest.

A police box removed to the police station for further disposition taken at the scene, while the suspect in the case—known as the snatcher—is already detained and awaiting proper processing.

Speaking on Newsnight on Joy FM Alhaji Osman Masawudu, the 3rd National Vice Chairman of the NPP, said: “We are now with the electoral officers for both candidates at the police station, where the counting is expected to be done.”.

As I speak to you now, we are at the Walewale police station. We are waiting for both candidates with their agents. The representatives of the Electoral Commission are present here and also the commander of the police. We are going to recount the ballots here at the police so that we can come out with the winner, after which the Electoral Commission will declare the results.

Also read this article: Ballot Chaos and Confusion: NPP Walewale Primary Declared Null After ballot snatching incident

Recently, the Tamale High Court in the Northern Region of Ghana, presided over by Justice Richard Kogyapwah, gave an order for a rerun of the primary election within the constituency.

Giving his reasons for the judgment on Monday, September 2, My Lord, the Judge, said a full and complete judgment would be written and read out on September 12, 2024.

The landmark ruling comes barely a week into the most crucial deadline for parliamentary and presidential candidates to file their nominations for this year’s election, slated for December 7 according to the timeline released by the Electoral Commission responsible for conducting the polls.

This was when, in June 2024, the court, through a lawsuit, granted an injunction against Dr. Mahama Tia Kabiru. This means that he is restrained from parading himself before the public as the duly elected parliamentary candidate on the ticket of the New Patriotic Party representing the Walewale constituency in the NorthEast Region of Ghana.

Justice Richard Kugyapaw handed down the decision after a legal challenge to the results of a recent election that the sitting Member of Parliament, Hajia Lariba Zuweratu, had launched in order to contest the validity of the results.

Source: myjoyonline.com