Tension mounts in Tamale Central, North constituencies ahead of NDC primaries
Tension is mounting in the Tamale Central and Tamale North constituencies in the Northern Region ahead of Saturday's presidential and parliamentary primaries of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
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The stakes are very high, given the level of competition among the aspirants in the two constituencies, which many pundits have described as unprecedented in the history of parliamentary primaries there.
This follows threats and counter-threats from the camps of Alhaji Inusah Fuseini, the incumbent Member of Parliament (MP) for Tamale Central Constituency, who is also the Minister of Roads and Highways, and Engineer Ibrahim Seidu, a Deputy Director of the Feeder Roads Department.
The two are the leading contenders in the Tamale Central Constituency where the race is said to be the most keenly contested in the region.
Graphic Online on its visit to the Tamale Central Constituency discovered two slogans devised by the supporters of both Lawyer Fuseini and Engineer Ibrahim as "Shee Koo sheei!", a Dagbani dialect which means "Inusah must step down" and counter slogan from the camp of Lawyer Inusah which also reads:"Oku sheei!" to wit "Lawyer Inusah will not step down".
The Tamale North Constituency has also been identified as one of the flash points in the region where seven aspirants are vying to be MPs on the NDC’s ticket.
The seven aspirants are Mohammed Abdul Salam, the constituency secretary; Radio Gold's Alhassan Suhuyini; the former MP, Alhaji Abubakari Sumani; and the immediate past Director-General of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Dr Abdullai Salifu.
Meanwhile, the Northern Regional Police Command has identified some of the flash points in the region, including Changilli, Salamba, Dagbon dab fong, and Saabonjida, all in the Tamale Central Constituency and Choggu, Gumani and Nyanshegu also in the Tamale North Constituency.
Speaking to the Graphic Online, the Northern Regional Police Public Relations Officer, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), Ebenezer Tetteh, said the police would deploy 1,000 police officials during the primaries.
He said two officers would be assigned to each polling station while detectives would also be deployed to gather intelligence.
He added that 50 police officers would be reserved as standby reinforcement to respond to any eventuality during the elections.
For his part, the Northern NDC Director of Elections, Mr Rashid Tanko Computer, said 321,000 delegates were expected to cast their ballot in the primaries in the region.
He said there were going to be 740 voting centers across the region.
In all, 106 aspirants are taking part in the primaries in the Northern Region.