Deputy Information Minister, Pius Hadzide has confirmed that some 66 suspected persons have been arrested in connection to secessionist attacks in the Volta Region.
According to the minister, five out of the number are presently receiving healthcare at the Police Hospital, whereas the remaining sum have been remanded by the court as ten more prepare to stand trial.
“I can confirm to you that so far, a total of 66 suspected criminals have been arrested. Five of those have been admitted at the Police Hospital. 51 of those suspected criminals have been sent to court and have remanded. 10 of them are also being processed for court. That is the situation as it stands today.”
Pius Enam Hadzide
Prior to this, the Deputy information minister had cleared the air on arrested made in the region on Sunday, 0ctober 4, 2020, over similar suspicions.
Rationalizing his stance, he noted that the members of the group who possessed locally manufactured guns were returning from a funeral and were not intended to cause any riots but were taken on by the security agencies as part of safety measures.
“Another issue of apprehension is about 37 men who were on board a bus at the Adomi Bridge last Sunday where a joint and military and policemen conducted a search and found locally manufactured single-barrel weapons. There was also some quantity of gunpowder and some gadgets. In the view of the security, due to the circumstances in the Volta Region, this group had to be apprehended and screened and investigated. It happened that these were a group coming from a funeral and it happened that those guns were used for the firing of musketry.”
Meanwhile, the Asogli Traditional State Youth and Warriors, are urging members of the Homeland Study Group to join them in finding justice.
Speaking at a press conference, convener of the group, Fafa Degbor, intimated that the purpose of the collaboration is in relation to finding the perpetrators of the secessionist attacks and ending the violence in the Volta Region.
“We, therefore, want to lend our fullest support to the call of our traditional leaders on the warriors to rise up and protect citizens to complement the efforts of the state security apparatus since security is a shared responsibility. We also call our sister traditional rulers to be on high alert in the Volta Region to put their warriors on high alert, so we can protect our heritage.
“We are therefore throwing a challenge to the separatist group to join us and the warriors to join the state security to unravel the notorious perpetrators of this criminal act”.
Commenting on the ongoing unrest, Leader of the group, for the Homeland Study Group Foundation, Charles Kudzordzi, noted that his group has remained non-violent in its bid for part of the Volta Region to be made autonomous.
“The Homeland Study Group Foundation is a peaceful group; a peace-loving group, a peace-generating group, a peacemaking group”.
He maintained that dialogue has always been their recourse in dealings with state officials,
“I have made myself available to the police and to the security agencies on several occasions. Anytime they wanted me, I went there, we had a discussion and then I came home.”
