The Ghana Police Service has indicated that the arrest of the President of the Tertiary Students Confederacy (TESCON) of the Tamale Technical University was not because he insulted the Northern Regional Minister, Shani Alhassan Shaibu, Myjoyonline.com reports.
According to the report, the police in the Northern Region said that Sayiby Afa Yaba was arrested in connection with an assault on a female student of the University for Development Studies (UDS).
The female student of UDS was reportedly attacked by two unidentified men after berating the President of the Tertiary Students Confederacy (TESCON) of the university on social media.
According to myjoyonline.com, the attackers, while beating the female student, questioned why she would insult Sayiby Afa Yaba after he made a comment about the appearance of Shani Alhassan Shaibu, who was welcoming President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to the region.
The regional minister, who was wearing a shirt with khaki trousers and sandals, was deemed by some social media commentators as inappropriately dressed for the occasion.
Commenting on the viral picture shared on the Facebook page of Tamale Radio, Sayiby Afa Yaba wrote, “I want to believe our Northern Regional Minister didn’t bath before he came out.”
The female UDS student, whose name has been withheld, then criticised Afa Yaba for his choice of words.
“So, we [have] all these people in this country. Such a loss [loose] talk. Nonsense,” she commented.
According to the report, a relative of the victim reported the incident to the Northern Region Police Command.
The report added that she is now being treated at the SDA Hospital in Tamale.
Earlier, Radio Tamale reported that Sayiby Afa Yaba had reportedly been arrested by police in the Northern Region over comments he shared on social media about the minister for the region.
According to a report by Radio Tamale, the TESCON president was arrested on the night of Wednesday, August 10, 2022, after he made a Facebook comment to the effect that Alhaji Saani Alhassan, the regional minister, did not take his bath when he led a delegation to welcome President Akufo-Addo during his visit to the region.
The arrest has been confirmed by the TTU Students Representative Council (SRC) President, Dauda Gafaru, who spoke to Radio Tamale in the morning after the arrest.
“We were on campus when one police officer led a team to arrest our colleague. From the introduction, we thought it was a joke. Only for him to be handcuffed and sent to the police station,” he told radio Tamale’s Fuseini Safianu.
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The regional minister (arrowed) is said to have been shabbily dressed when he met the president