Nii Lante Vanderpuye granted bail

Odododiodoo Member of Parliament (MP), Edwin Nii Lante Vanderpuye has been granted bail by the Greater Accra Regional Police Command after his arrest by security officers on Tuesday night.

It was unclear why the legislator was kept in police custody but the arrest was after he alleged he had been attacked by some unidentified armed men.

The MP had claimed that he was attacked by persons believed to be members of the governing New Patriotic Party at the Modak hotel at Korleworkor, a town in the constituency.

But hours after his arrest, the MP has since been released and has high hopes of being declared the MP-elect of the constituency.

“I have always maintained that I was going to win this election. I had no doubt in my mind that I was going to win. My only regret was that the turnout was low. I was expecting a huge turnout because in this constituency, the higher turnout the better the outcomes. But the huge presence of the security officers affected the turnout that is why the margin of victory was low”, he said after the release.

The disturbed MP expressed worry over what he says was an act of voter suppression by the security agencies in the constituencies leading to the low number of voters who showed up to participate in the exercise.

“The presence of security officers intimated the people. It was the same thing during the registration. Who wants to come and vote and die? Look at the people who been shot for celebrating the victory of Nii Lante Vanderpuye. I have said that I do not what to win this election over a spill of blood. I have maintained peace all this while and it is unfortunate that these animals in human clothing have taken us to this level. I feel really bad.

Claims of attack

Citi News' Nii Ayikwei Okine had earlier reported that security officers numbering seven besieged the hotel demanding a halt in an interview he was conducting with the MP over the incident.

“The MP had wanted to move out of the hotel to the collation centre when the unidentified armed men took hold of him,” Ayikwei Okine reported.

“While the interview was going on, the security officers asked us to halt the interview”.

The MP who tried explaining the development to Citi News prior to his arrest said he suspected foul play.

“I saw a report that I have not been visible during the collation of the results. So I told my people that we have won, so we should go to the City Enginers collation centre. As soon as we got there, we saw some men, and they started shooting. As soon as we saw that, we went back into the hotel”, Nii Lante Vanderpuye said.

Meanwhile, the District Police Commander who was asked for comments disclosed that he could not speak to the matter.

---citinewsroom