NDC Youth Ransack Mayor's House

A vigilante youth group of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) in Tamale known as NATO Forces has ransacked the private residence of former Metropolitan Chief Executive for Tamale, Alhaji Harunah Abdulai Friday. Without authorization by the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly (TMA), the group retrieved the assembly�s Ford Everest vehicle with registration number GE 9338 Y, which has since been in the custody of the former Metropolitan Chief Executive after he left office early 2013. To a large extent, their action might have been in accordance with calls by former President Jerry John Rawlings to help the Mahama administration fight corruption which has become pervasive in the country. Spokesperson for the group, Abu Muhaisin, in an interview with Citi News, accused Alhaji Friday of theft. He said the NATO Forces stormed Alhaji Friday�s private residence at Jakarayili to retrieve all property of the Metro assembly in his possession. According to Muhaisin, the group established that the TMA had not given the Ford Everest vehicle to Alhaji Friday as part of his ex-gratia. �He went and hid it somewhere besides his residence so it had to take us intelligence upon intelligence for us to really get to know where the car was. He declared that NATO Forces would release the vehicle to the Tamale Metro Assembly. �We are not taking full possession of the car. We are only ensuring that the right thing is being done. Currently, the car is in our possession and we are on our way returning it back to the assembly. Asked whether similar exercises had been conducted in the past, Muhaisin cited GYEEDA and the SADA Secretariats as some government agencies where similar actions took place in the past. �We are just ensuring the appropriate thing is done and we are acting within the remits of the law; we have done similar things at SADA and GYEEDA offices and we will continue to do more. Abu Muhaisin said, �Nato Forces is a very proactive youth wing in Tamale and we are only serving as a citizen vigilante in ensuring that the appropriate thing is done by public service holders; at the end of the day the reputation and hard won integrity of the party is at stake and we wouldn�t want our political opponents to use mere gimmicks like this against us. Attempts to reach the former Tamale Mayor, Alhaji Abdulai Harunah Friday proved futile.