The Member of Parliament for Odododiodio constituency, Nii Lante Vanderpuye has threatened to take the law into his own hands if the Police fail to intervene in what he calls a long standing rivalry between supporters of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the constituency.
Vanderpuye’s caution comes on the back of violent clashes between supporters of the former and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Parliamentary Candidate, Nii Lante Bannerman on Tuesday evening.
The clashes reportedly occurred after separate campaign rallies held by the two men ended. Speaking on Citi Breakfast Show, Mr. Vanderpuye who doubles as the Minister of Youth and Sports said he is running out of patience and will retaliate if the Police fail to act.
“For months now I have been preaching peace. I don’t care how you define it. We have reached our limits. We can’t sit down and these people will shoot our people just for nothing. If the Police will not defend us, we will defend ourselves. They are looking for me and Bannerman has sat on radio and said they are going to give me a dosage of my own medicine.”
“I told him that we are from the same house and it is not right for us to be seen fighting but he opened that mouth of his and told me I am coward…I am a human being and I have people lying at the theatre. Nii Lante asked his people to shoot my supporters. For two months now I have been preaching peace but Bannerman is not cooperating . I am reaching my limits. If Bannerman wants peace, I will give him peace but if he wants war I will give him war.”
NDC, NPP clashes in Odododiodio
In September, a planned parliamentary debate between Nii Lante Vanderpuye and Nii Lante Bannerman, turned chaotic resulting in fisticuffs.
The Police have often been accused of failing to bring perpetrators of political violence to book; but the Public Relations Officer of the Ghana Police Service, ASP Cephas Arthur, said they will get to the bottom of this one.
“Investigation is in progress, the injured came for police forms and went to the hospital. They are assisting with investigation. We are in touch with some witnesses who are also helping our investigation. There haven’t been any arrest, but we have a couple of witnesses that we are working with. We are making some inroads before long we will get to the bottom of it.”
“Anybody who is a culprit in these disturbances will be brought to book. Let me urge some patience at this particular point in time. This is an event that happened that you need to conduct a painstaking investigation into it. I can assure you that we will do just that and before long we would get to the bottom of this incident,” he added.
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