Seven persons who participated in last Thursday’s lock up of the office of the District Chief Executive (DCE) for Sissala West District in the Upper West Region have been remanded in orison custody after being put before the Magistrate Court in Wa.
A heavily armed police guard watched on Wednesday morning as the seven charged with rioting with offensive weapons were driven to the Wa Central Prisons to begin a week’s stay in custody.
The seven are Bukari Dramani, Alidu Mumuni, Mahamadu Porkaa, Wakika Sulemani, Sule Mohammed and Bimbie Lukman.
Indeed, Mr Dramani is the constituency chairman of the ruling New Patriotic Party in Sissala West, and his accomplices were all supposedly party members.
According to the prosecutor, Chief Inspector D.Y. Yeboah, the seven were part of more than 100 persons who rioted at the premises of the district assembly and locked up the office of the DCE.
He said intelligence picked up by the police indicated there was a threat of further violence in the district in a matter related to the first incident.
The judge said while he sided with the prosecution, there was the need to speed up the investigations and to limit the inconvenience of the accused, hence the one-week remand in custody.
The counsel for the accused, Ubeide bin Sidiq, had argued that the facts as presented by the prosecution did not support the charge by the prosecution, and requested the court to discharge his clients.
He said even if the court would entertain the case, it was important that the persons who had come to court upon invitation be granted bail, and not be held as demanded by the prosecution.
The court eventually granted the prosecution’s request.
