Tamale, Nov. 16, GNA - The Northern Regional Security Council (NREGSEC) on Monday refuted media reports that there were gunshots in Buipe in the Central Gonja District when Vice President John Dramani Mahama went there for a programme.

"The attention of the REGSEC has been drawn to purported gunshots in the sod-cutting ceremony in Buipe, which was attended by the Vice President", Mr. Stephen Sumani Nayina, Northern Regional Minister, said at a media briefing in Tamale.

Mr Nayina who chairs the Regional Security Council, explained that what happened was a protest from the Buipewura against an elder of the Lebu Gate, one of the chieftaincy factions, from presenting or portraying himself at the durbar grounds as a chief.

He said the protest led to a brief misunderstanding between the chiefs and elders of the Lepo Gate, another chieftaincy faction.

"The Regional Security Council would like to set the records straight and to indicate that there was no clash or any gunshots before, during and after the durbar."

Mr Nayina said: "However, due to the timely intervention of the Northern Regional Police Commander and some Gonja opinion leaders a possible clash was averted and the matter resolved amicably before the Vice President even arrived at the durbar grounds."

Mr Nayina said the Vice President was briefed and took the opportunity to caution the people especially the youth to refrain from chieftaincy issues.

He told them: "There would be no meaningful development in any community that is involved in violence and anarchy and advised the people of Buipe that there was the need to give peace a chance so as to lure investors to the area.

"The purported news carried by some Accra-based FM stations is not only unfounded but misleading and a calculated attempt to erode the good gains achieved so far in maintaining peace in the traditional area and also to negate the essence of the event, which would impact positively on the lives of the people," he said.

Mr Nayina said the Region was deprived and that the continuous negative reportage would further worsen the situation and appealed to media practitioners to be more professional in their reportage to promote peace and unity among the people.

Mr Nayina also appealed to editors of media houses especially those in Accra to professionally cross-check their facts before going public since an imaged damaged was hard to repair.

Meanwhile all journalists from the Northern Region, who attended the function, said they did not hear any gunshots and described the negative reportage as unfortunate since those who reported on the issue did that based on hearsay.