Tamale, Sept. 19, GNA - The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has alleged that some members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) are in possession of weapons to cause mayhem in the Chereponi by-elections, slated for September 29.

The NDC has alleged that, Alhaji Yakubu Grusah, Chereponi constituency chairman of the NPP, had confessed to the chief of the area that due to the volatile atmosphere of the impending by-elections, his party had received weapons from its head quarters in Accra for self-protection.

Mr. Johnson Asiedu Nketia, General Secretary of the NDC, who made the allegations in a media briefing in Tamale on Friday, said until weapons were retrieved from Chereponi, the NPP should be held responsible for anything that disturbed the peace during and after the by-election.

He appealed to the security personnel to immediately arrest the self-confessed Alhaji Grusah to help in retrieving those weapons to ensure that lives in Chereponi were saved.

He said the allegations must be taken seriously because, "To the NPP the only democracy they know is when they win power" and that NPP as a party had a track record of causing confusion when they know elections would not favour them.

"This reminds me of Akwatia, Asawase, Gushiegu, Fomena and other places where the NPP adopted various strategies and caused confusion, but this time nothing would favour them," he emphasized.

Mr. Nketia said the country was interested in peace and that elections should not be used as an avenue to set "brother against brother".

He said the NPP's refusal to sign the code of conduct document in Accra was a prelude to their intentions to cause confusion, adding, "If you accept that you can't win just withdraw from the race to save yourself from disgrace."

Mr. Nketia, however, said the campaign in Chereponi so far was peaceful since there was no breach of the peace, and commended all the political parties and the security personnel for conducting themselves. Mr. Faisal Gbangili, Acting Northern Regional Secretary of the NPP, in an interview with the GNA, described the allegations labelled against the NPP as unfounded and baseless, saying such had always been the game plan of the NDC in all elections.

"How can our constituency chairman who is over 70 years old walk to a chief and make such allegations. There is no truth in what the NDC is saying. They are only crying wolf when there is no wolf. "We are most likely to retain the seat so why would we do anything to disturb the peace to dent our credibility as a viable party. It is rather the NDC who are sensing defeat and they are crying foul to win public sympathy", he remarked.

Mr. Ebenezer Tetteh, Northern Regional Police Public Relations Officer, also in an interview said the police had earlier had information to the effect that people possessed arms in the constituency, and that searches had been conducted but nothing was found.

He said the reports the police had received were allegations against both the NPP and the NDC, which moved the police and the military to conduct searches on members of the NPP, the NDC and all the other parties contesting the by-elections.

"I don't know whether the NDC has the same old information or something fresh. All the same we will find out and if they are fresh allegations we shall act on them", he said.

Mr. Tetteh assured people in the Chereponi constituency to go about their normal duties without fear, saying that the security was in control of the situation.