An armed gang clad in military uniform reportedly raided the headquarters of Ghana’s main opposition party, the New Patriotic Party, on Monday in an attack that may likely raise political tension just one year before the country holds its presidential elections.
The NPP said that around 15 men using military and police vehicles vandalized its offices in a downtown neighborhood at around 0100 and confiscated computer equipment.
Talking to Reuters, police spokesperson Cephas Arthur said that it was not yet clear who conducted the break-in, suggesting it was a “civilian raid” rather than one carried out by the security forces.
Next year’s elections will see incumbent President John Mahama battle it out against Nana Akufo-Addo, whom he narrowly defeated in 2012.
Mahama’s national Democratic Congress party endorsed him as its candidate on Monday.
NPP’s Communications Director Nana Akomea released a statement on the raid saying that the party did not know who conducted it.
He said that three party officials were made to surrender their phones before being shoved into a security post and locked up. A couple of minutes later, the men dressed in military uniform ordered them out.
“They (the armed men) produced a sack and proceeded to pour the contents out on the floor. The contents included four AK-47s and four machetes which the military uniformed men claimed to have found on the compound,” it said.
