A charged crowd stormed the Kumasi Circuit Court yesterday to support two members of the vigilante group known as Delta Force, Paul Atta Onyina, aka Diago, 49, and Richard Yaw Brefo, 51, who made their first appearance.
The two were charged with conspiracy to commit crime, rioting, causing unlawful damage and assault after they had been arrested for causing commotion at a meeting of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Constituency executives at Tafo in the Tafo-Pankrono Municipality of the Ashanti Region.
They were remanded in police custody by the court, presided over by Lydia Osei Marfo, to re-appear on October 24, 2018, after the prosecution prayed for more time to conduct thorough investigations into the incident.
Even though counsel of the accused persons, William Kusi, challenged the motion to remand Paul and Richard for two weeks, the judge did not agree with his arguments that the remand period was too long because the offences constitute misdemeanour.
Manhunt
Meanwhile, the police in the Ashanti Region have declared a manhunt for four other members of the vigilante group believed to be the internal security apparatus of the NPP, who eluded security agents under bizarre circumstances on Sunday.
Jafar Saeed alias Odiyifo, Kwame Sariki, Aminu and another unidentified person, who disrupted the meeting of the NPP Constituency executives at Tafo, fled the scene after causing commotion.
The fugitives face provisional charges of conspiracy to commit crime, rioting, causing unlawful damage and assault.
Two of their colleagues, Paul Atta Onyina and Richard Yaw Brefo, were arrested subsequently after the incident.
A statement signed by Police Spokeswoman, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Sheilla Kessie Abayie-Buckman, urged the public to volunteer information on the whereabouts of the suspects for their immediate arrest and prosecution.
It said the suspects, on October 7, 2018, attacked and disrupted a meeting of the Tafo Constituency NPP at Tapars School in the Tafo-Pankrono Municipality of the Ashanti Region.
According to the statement, the suspects fled the scene upon seeing the police, who had gone there to maintain law and order.
Investigation by the police led to the arrest of two members of the group on Monday and the identities of their accomplices were revealed, the statement said.
The group interrupted the Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, Dr Anthony Akoto Osei, who was meeting constituency and polling station officers of the NPP at Tafo.
The MP was whisked to safety before the hoodlums could lay their hands on him.
They accused the MP of failing to honour his promise of securing jobs for them prior to the 2016 general elections.
The members of the vigilante group claimed the MP, who doubles as Minister of Monitoring and Evaluation, had also refused to answer their calls.
“We have given him job to do by working hard to retain him as MP. He also needs to fulfill his side of the bargain by giving us jobs too,” Kwame Sariki, a frustrated member of the vigilante group, said angrily.
From Ernest Kofi Adu, Kumasi