It was a free-for-all fight at Karaga in Northern region last Friday, as two factions in the National Democratic Congress (NDC) engaged in a sporadic gun battle and fisticuffs over the naming of a new District Chief Executive (DCE) for the area by President John Evans Atta Mills. The situation in the town is said to be very volatile as a contingent of police personnel dispatched to the area yesterday to arrest the NDC trouble-makers was chased out. The gunmen, who were supported by other NDC activists, resisted arrest, leading to the firing of shots into the air. Realising that the youth were overpowering them, sources said, the policemen ran away, promising to return with a police-military reinforcement. The aggrieved NDC factions, Daily Guide gathered, left dozens of persons with several degrees of injury while a shed under which one faction met for meetings was razed down. The violence, according to reports, occurred shortly after a radio announcement in the name of the president stated that the Karaga Constituency Secretary of the NDC, Hussein Issah Sulemana, had been nominated to succeed the ousted DCE Alhaji Abdulai Mohammed Sandow. Rampaging youth believed to be supporters of the former DCE, on hearing the announcement, quickly massed up and engaged in the alleged shooting spree, vandalizing property worth thousands of cedis. Prior to the announcement of the nominee, irate youth of the area had threatened mayhem on anyone that would be named successor to Alhaji Sandow, claiming he was the one they still wanted. They vowed not to accept any successor to the dismissed DCE and reiterated the need for government to reinstate him, saying those named to succeed him orchestrated his removal. Several petitions from sections of the youth and party faithful were dispatched to the offices of the Northern Regional Minister for the President to reverse his decision and reinstate the DCE. This was followed by a number of street protests in Karaga by a group calling itself Concerned Youth of the NDC in the constituency, threatening to vandalize party property if their idol, Mohammed Sandow, was not restored to his former position. The youth claimed President Mills was ill-advised and the party would incur their wrath if he nominated a different person. One Alhassan Abukari, spokesperson of the group, hinted that members of the group would resist any attempt to impose anybody on the people of Karaga. They accused some of the constituency executives, particularly the Assistant Youth Organizer, of masterminding the DCE’s removal and concluded that their action could cause the NDC’s defeat in 2012. Their threats were made real when they took to the streets in a gun battle with perceived opponents of the former DCE, soon after the announcement of a new person, one Hussein Issah Sulemana who also doubles as Constituency Secretary of the NDC, as the new DCE. Even though the Karaga District Police Inspector told DAILY GUIDE on Friday that the situation was under control, it was aggravated yesterday when the policemen tried to arrest the troublesome ones. He also indicated that no arrest had been made, adding that statements of victims were taken, after which some arrests could be made to assist in investigations. It would be recalled that Walvice Hudu Adama Mahama for Yendi Municipality, Hajia Meiliga Mavis Bawa for Bunkpurugu/Yunyoo and Abdulai Sandow for Karaga were dismissed by President Mills following ceaseless protests against them. But supporters of the former DCE, Alhaji Mohammed Abdulai Sandow, went on rampage and defaced billboards with the pictures of President Mills in protest against his decision. According to them, the President’s decision to fire the former DCE was based on the agitations of a few disgruntled youth as against the majority in Karaga district. Many of them said the president’s response had opened the window for others in the district to agitate against any DCE, depending on his relationship with the residents. President Mills, last Friday in a correspondence, nominated three persons for appointment as Chief Executives for Yendi, Karaga and Bunkpurugu/Yunyoo Districts. The statement, signed by Joseph Yieleh Chireh, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, said Issah Zakaria had been nominated for the Yendi Municipality, Sulemana Husseini Issah for Karaga District and Philip Nantee Laari for Bunkpurugu/Yunyoo District. Source: Daily Guide