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02.04.2006 General News

One dies, several injured at NDC rally

02.04.2006 LISTEN
By GNA

Tamale, April 2, GNA - An NDC rally in Tamale on Sunday to whip up support for its candidate in Tuesday's by-election was characterised by a number of accidents in which one person died and a number of the party's supporters sustained various degree of injuries.

When the GNA contacted the Tamale Teaching Hospital authorities on the accidents, they confirmed the death of one Issifu from Choggu, a suburb of Tamale, whose motorcycle was said to have been involved in an accident.

The hospital authorities named the injured in separate accidents as: Samata Abukari, Nurijana Hudu, Mohammed Sham-Una, Safianu Adam, Mohammed Amin, Razak Adam, Fatawu Abdul-Rahman and Alhassan Iddrisu, who were on admission at the Tamale Teaching Hospital.

The accident occurred, when the enthusiastic supporters of the NDC were ushering in the founder of the party and former President Jerry John Rawlings and his entourage into Tamale from Datoyili, about eight miles from the metropolis for the rally.

A nurse at the hospital expressed dismay at the behaviour of the party's supporters, who rode their motorcycles into the hospital's premises, disturbing workers and patients.

The nurse said, "Tetanus and hypertension patients detest noise and this was what was happening".

In the streets and at the rally grounds, some party supporters were seen wielding guns, cutlasses and other offensive weapons, while there were indiscriminate gunshots.

The whole of the Tamale Metropolis was dabbed with NDC party colours, as the teeming supporters took to the streets amidst drumming and dancing, while waiting for the arrival of the founder of the party.

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