• The MP has since been charged with illegal possession of a firearm according to Peter Mac Manu
• The NDC is on record to have denied that the arm belonged to the MP
Abdulai Jacob-Idris, National Democratic Congress, NDC, Member of Parliament for Savelugu is facing charges for illegal possession of a firearm without authorization.
This follows an incident during the December 2020 elections when a gun was fired at the NDC party office leading to one death.
The issue of the criminal charge was disclosed by Peter Mac Manu, the ruling New Patriotic Party's National Campaign manager for the 2020 polls.
GhanaWeb monitored comments he made on Joy News' 'The Probe' programme which aired on Sunday, August 8, 2021.
"The Savelugu NDC MP has been charged with possessing firearms without authority, that is criminal, that is criminal and if you know, in Savelugu; one person was shot and she died (during the elections).
"That one NDC is not mentioning it but they will mention Techiman South as if that is the only place an election was held."
He buttressed that aside the criminal charge the MP is facing, the NPP is also pressing ahead with its challenge of the outcome of the election via a petition before the Tamale High Court.
"So their MP has been charged criminally for holding firearms without authorization. Equally, the results are being challenged, he won the elections with 92 votes and we are challenging that," the former NPP National Chairman added.
Barely a week after he was declared MP-elect in December 2020, Jacob-Idris was reported to have been in possession of a gun at his office in the constituency.
The NDC secretary in the region at a press conference said the MP did not have an office and that he operated from the party office, hence there was no way he could directly be accused of being the owner of the said gun.
“The MP-elect has no office, (as is) well known to everyone, MPs operate from party offices with party executives,” Mohammed Abdul Salam told journalists.
“The MP-elect is, however, available on Monday, December 21, with his lawyer, to be accompanied by NDC officials to the police for his caution statement to be taken”, he added at the time accusing the police of ransacking the office without a warrant.
Peter Mac Manu is a former NPP National Chairman