Tamale Police-Military Clash: Dery Promises to Deal with Culprits

The Ministers of Defense and Interior have given assurance that culprits in the Tamale Military and Police clashes will be dealt with severely.

The assurance follows a summon by the speaker Professor Mike Ocquaye for the two ministers to brief the house on the incident which left at least eight police officers injured and undergoing treatment at the police clinic after the soldiers, said to be protesting the arrest of their colleague, invaded the city with three military vans and carried out a targeted assault on policemen.

The soldiers according to Starr News’ Northern regional correspondent Eliasu Tanko moved from one police post to another unleashing fury on their security counterparts, beating them with guns, sticks and canes, for arresting a military officer who was facing an assault allegation by a taxi driver who he (soldier) manhandled mercilessly after a small misunderstanding.

The development compelled the police to withdraw and abandon their posts and retreated to the regional police headquarters where the two security agencies exchanged gunfire in the presence of top security officers including the outgoing regional commander.

In a joint statement Thursday the Police and Military high command strongly condemned the clashes “in no uncertain terms” announcing the formation of a committee to investigate the “clash and similar existing cases and officers found culpable to be sanctioned in accordance with the law.”

Security analyst Adam Bonah criticized the Police and Military High Commands’ reaction to the clashes as inadequate, calling for the perpetrators of the assaults to be treated as “terrorists.”

“It is almost like telling us that we are ready as a nation to negotiate and dialogue with terrorists,” he told Starr news’ Naa Dedei Tetteh.

He added: “I see these Military Officers who undertook this dastardly act to be terrorists. They are not different from Boko Haram insurgents; they are not different from Osama Bin Laden and Alqaeda and not different from Islamic State.”

Presenting a joint statement to Parliament by the Defense and Interior Ministry Tuesday May 22, 2018, the Interior Minister Ambrose Dery pledged that such incident will not reoccur.

According to him, preliminary investigation has been carried out as a prelude to the set-up of a five-member committee composed from the two institutions and the Attorney General’s Department to conduct “detail investigations” into the cause of the clashes and recommend any further interventions “beyond existing guidelines and protocols.”

“We want to assure you that any person found after the investigations shall be dealt with according to law,” Mr. Dery stated.

Meanwhile, he added “following the initial investigations, the  two institutions agreed to hold regular joint durbars and other activities to enhance interaction.”

Currently, he said “full operational collaboration” between the Police and Military in has been restored in Tamale and the entire Northern Region.

Source: Starrfmonline