It was almost a chaotic situation at the Ashaiman District Police Station in Accra when a former chairman of the opposition National Democratic Congress in Ashaiman, Shadad Jallo, was invited for questioning over the alleged assault of one Rahman Osman, a voter registration agent of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP).
Hundreds of party supporters thronged the premises of the District Police Station to solidarize with the former chairman on Monday, August 3, 2020.
The immediate past chairman of the constituency had been invited for questioning over a case of alleged assault brought against him by an agent of the NPP in the constituency.
The former chairman is alleged to have slapped the NPP agent, Rahman Osman, at Ashaiman Valco flat on Sunday afternoon during a misunderstanding at the registration centre.
A report was then made to the Police who invited the former chairman for questioning on Monday morning.
Although the Chairman went to the police station in the company of the Member of Parliament for the Ashaiman constituency, Ernest Norgbey, the police were unsuccessful in getting a statement from the former chairman as the complainant was yet to write his statement and was thus scheduled to re-appear on Tuesday morning.
The NDC supporters, who were about a hundred in number, were angry that their former chairman had been invited by the Police for questioning because they believed the allegations levelled against him were unfounded.
“This is a planned attempt to intimidate NDC supporters in Ashaiman and we will not allow that to happen so we are here to solidarize with our chairman,” some NDC supporters retorted.
In an interview with Citi News, Mr Shadad narrated the incident that occurred at the registration centre on Sunday afternoon saying he was pushed by the NPP coordinator of which he retaliated.
“I was at the registration centre on Sunday and there was some misunderstanding between the NPP coordinator and myself. And in the process of arguing our points, he pushed me and I also defended myself by pushing him and that was all that happened. So I’m surprised at the invitation to the police station,” the former chairman noted.
All efforts to get the complainant, Rahman Osman, to tell Citi News his side of the story proved futile, but a brother of his, Alhassan Isahaku, who is also a registration centre agent for the NPP alleged that the NDC chairman slapped his brother in the process of the misunderstanding.
“They had an issue and the NDC chairman pushed my brother and when my brother retaliated same, the NDC chairman slapped him”.
Meanwhile, an executive member of the NPP, who spoke to Citi News on condition of anonymity, said efforts are underway to get the issue resolved amicably between the two parties to avoid further clashes within the constituency.