Two EC officers arrested over 'pink sheets'
Two persons, including the Savelugu-Nanton District Officer of the Electoral Commission (EC), have been arrested to assist the Tamale Police in investigations into how they came by some unsigned pink sheets which they allegedly attempted to validate at Savelugu.
The officer, Ben Akomanua, and Osman Salamatu are alleged to have asked some returning officers in the area to sign some 15 pink sheets that were in their possession at Savelugu on Sunday morning.
They were, however, apprehended by some supporters of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), who handed them over to the Savelugu Police.
Later, a group of NPP supporters besieged the Savelugu Police Station to ascertain the facts of the case.
The suspects were subsequently transferred to the Regional Police Command in Tamale for interrogation.
As of the time of filing this report, the police had also invited the Deputy Northern Regional Director of the EC, Mr Godfred Oakley, to act as a witness to help the police in their investigations.
According to the Northern Regional Police Crime Officer, Mr Mahama Arhin, Salamatu, who was in possession of the sheets from various polling stations in the district, requested the polling agents to validate them by appending their signatures.
Three members of the NPP who were also polling agents in the December elections got wind of the exercise and also decided to meet the lady.
After Salamatu had shown the sheets to them, she was apprehended by the party’s operatives and handed over to the police.
The suspect, who was also in possession of what the crime officer referred to as a statement poll purported to have been obtained from the Presidency, claimed that she had been instructed by the Savelugu EC officer to conduct the exercise.
When queried, Mr Akomanua claimed knowledge of the exercise and indicated that he too had received instructions from his superiors at the EC head office in Accra through the regional directorate.
Mr Arhin said Mr Oakley had only been invited to help the police in their investigations.
Attempts to contact the Northern Regional Director of the EC for his version of the story was not successful, as a message from his network operator indicated that his mobile phone was switched off.
The NPP flag bearer in the December 7, 2012 elections, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, and two others are challenging the EC over the results of the presidential election at the Supreme Court.
Story by Zakaria Alhassan
