Police in Upper Manya Krobo in the Eastern Region have denied using bullying tactics to intimidate the followers of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) with recent police raids against its campaign and research teams.

The arrests, District Police Commander for the area, Chief Superintendent John Yeboah argues, became necessary following reports of administering of “inappropriate” questionnaire by members of the campaign and research team during its political outreach activities.

The Saturday arrests of six members of the opposition party conducting research for the NDC have raised tension in the area leading to sharp attacks on the police by the NDC which held a press conference over the weekend to express its displeasure about the actions.

The party in a press conference held at its party office at Asesewa on Sunday, November 15, 2020, accused Chief Superintendent John Yeboah of bias; alleging that the police often ignored complaints from NDC members, but are quick to act on complaints from the NPP, adding that the police administration in Upper Manya Krobo had allowed itself to be used by the NPP to foment trouble in the constituency.

But reacting to the accusations, a vociferous Chief Supt John Yeboah accused the largest opposition party of engaging in illegitimate activities of taking voter ID cards from registered voters and data collection of voters’ preference and questioned the basis of the NDC questionnaire.

“They were taking ID cards from people and be collecting data from them, who do you want to vote for, why should you vote for that person, all this is unnecessary,” the police commander charged.

He asked: “Voting must be secret, is that not so? Why should you go and take somebody’s voter ID card and be collecting data from them? Do you think if I don’t step in another political party will also get up, what will happen, it will be serious riot over here and we’re here to ensure that there’s peace before, during, and after the election.”

The embattled police commander while justifying the information leading to the arrest of the suspects urged the citizenry to report deviant activities to the police for prompt action instead of repeating such wrong acts.

The unperturbed police commander maintained his position and challenged the NDC to take legal action against him if they feel his actions are unjustified. “That’s why I said if they think I’m intimidating them, they can send me to court because I know I’m doing the right thing here,” he argued.

The NDC activists were however granted bail hours after their arrests.