General News of Sunday, 5 December 2004

Source: GNA

Northern students union condemns shooting in Tamale

Kumasi, Dec. 5, GNA - The national secretariat of the Northern Students Union (NSU) has condemned the most recent shooting incident at a political rally in Tamale to bring to four the number of shooting incidents in the Tamale metropolis this political season.

The union said it was saddened the most, when it realised that, it was the youth who were resorting to arms at the least provocation. A statement issued in Kumasi at the weekend and signed by Issifu Salisu Be-Awurebi and Ayuure Amos, President and Secretary respectively of the union, condemned the resort to arms in that part of the Northern Region.

The statement reminded the people of Dagbon that, the gun had never solved any problem and that they should have been the least to resort to arms as a people still recuperating "from the savagery of our own selves unleashed through the gun in recent times", adding that, politicians and political parties would come and go but the North will remain forever.

It said the shooting incident was a testimony to rumours that people were stock piling arms in the area and ready to unleash them at the least provocation on the election day or thereabout, with some influential people in the society aiding them with impunity.

"We call on all those who are behind these criminal acts to put a stop to them and let lasting peace prevail in the North during and after the elections".

The statement said as students, they would not stay unconcerned to see the fragile peace in the North sacrificed on the altar of political adventurism and therefore, called on all well meaning citizens to support them.

It appreciated the tireless efforts of the security agencies at maintaining peace in the North but asked them not to relent in their efforts and that they should sustain the search for illegal weapons in all violence prone areas of the North.

The union called on anybody with any credible information that could lead to the arrest and subsequent prosecution of the culprits, their financiers and accomplices to volunteer such information to the security agencies.

The statement called on every registered voter in the North to defy all threats and go out in their numbers to vote on Tuesday, but cautioned them to respect all the electoral laws that had been put in place by the Electoral Commission (EC).