Accra, Sept. 3, GNA - The Northern Students Union (NSU) on Wednesday condemned last weekend's shooting in Tamale when the running mate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, was attending a rally at the Jubilee Park in Tamale.

A press release signed by the President of the Union, Mr Fuseini Abdul-Majeed said: "With an act of this nature, all our efforts towards a peaceful general election in December 2008 will be fruitless. This act is highly unfortunate, unacceptable and a tool of destruction."

The Union said it was worried that there should be fighting in the month of Ramadan, which should rather be a period to move the north forward through reconciliation and peace enhancement.

The Union asked the security agencies to put in place appropriate measures to prevent future occurrences and urged them to investigate the incident and arrest the culprits irrespective of their political affiliations to serve as a deterrent to others for sanity to prevail. The regional security councils should also put in place by-laws for political party activities in the various regions to avoid clashes that would jeopardize the maintenance of peace.

The Union urged the youth of northern Ghana not to allow self-seeking politicians to use them for destruction. Instead they must unite and fight against poverty, disease and illiteracy which have been the drawbacks to the fortunes of the area. The release said the Union had realized that individualism rather than nationalism had polarized the political pursuit of the northern elite and warned that this could continue to disturb the progress of the three northern regions.