Top brass military officers and police commanders in the Northern Region are currently locked up in a meeting exploring how to neutralize the tension between their respective personnel following Wednesday’s bloody clash in Tamale.
A group of angry soldiers went on rampage Wednesday and assaulted some police personnel in the metropolis as they stormed the Regional Police Headquarters to free their colleague who was arrested as a suspect in a case.
They opened gunfire on the police offices injuring seven of them.
The conduct of the military personnel which has been condemned has forced parliament to summon the Interior and Defence ministers to brief the MPs on circumstances leading to the attack and what measures are being taken to prevent police-military clashes in the country.
It followed a request put forth by the Minority leader and Member of Parliament of Tamale South, Haruna Iddrisu.
Highly placed sources told TV3 Thursday that the commanders of both the Police and the military in the Northern Region are chairing a high level meeting to find amicable solution to the impasse which experts say threatens the security of Ghana and its people.
The closed-door meeting is taking place at the Bawah Barracks in Tamale, the sources said.
How it started
According to the Northern Regional Police Commander, DCOP Patrick Adusei Sarpong, one AC2 Eric Danso of the Air Force Unit of GAF had reported to the police CID on Wednesday as part of bail requirement but left the premises unnoticed after he was told he would be arraigned for court.
Eric Danso was pursued by two police officers for re-arrest and could only be arrested few meters away from the Tamale branch of the Bank of Ghana, which coincidentally has a military post.
Noticing that their colleague was being “molested” by police officers, the military men intervened to defend him and in the process injured the two officers.
To the amazement of the police officers, military men in uniform and fully armed arrived at the regiona police headquarters and opened fire on officers, who were also left with no option but fire in return.
“I moved to the scene after reports got to me and was able to calm the situation and left to meet members of the Northern Regional Security Council (REGSEC),” the Northern Regional Police Commander said.
“Few minutes into the meeting in my office, we heard gunshots and it came from some military officers who had actually stormed the Command while their commanders were also here in the meeting.”
Wednesday’s attack brings to three fights between the two security agencies within five months.
Calm has since been restored at the police headquarters.
Meanwhile, 3news.com gathers two military officers also sustained serious injuries during the crossfire and are receiving treatment at the military hospital in the 6BN Barracks.
Background
AC2 Eric Danso was on Tuesday, May 1, 2018 arrested by the police after his driver, Habib Alhassan, reported him to the police for assault.
He was granted bail after a senior colleague who came to the police station with him signed for his bail and has since been reporting as investigation continues.
However, the officer was today told that he would be arraigned before court for assault.
That was when he stormed out of the CID’s office without a word to the investigator.
Instruction was given by the head of the unit to get Eric arrested. He was followed but could only be arrested few meters from the Bank of Ghana.
By Zubaida Ismail|3news.com|Ghana
The post Top commanders in crunch meeting over Tamale police-military clash appeared first on 3newsgh.
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