The Northern regional commander of government-backed vigilante group, the Invincible Forces, Alhassan Ibrahim Abandi, has informed his charges they are immune from arrest and police harassment.
The declaration is to embolden members of the group to shrug off fears about law enforcement in the country and step up operations that they believe would benefit and aid the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government to succeed.
Abandi said all police commanders in the region have been told to refrain from ‘disturbing’ members of the group if they were suspected to be involved in a crime and should always notify leadership of the group anytime a member is arrested.
The police, according to him, have embraced the directive and assured his members that leadership will quickly respond and offer support anytime they receive such information from the police. He added, however, that leadership would not support anyone involved in robbery.
“You see the Regional Police Commander… we the executive told them – anytime they arrest an Invincible Force member, don’t disturb him, wait for us to come and find out about his crime… and the crime he committed is part of us because he relied on us; apart from stealing. So those who have witnessed will testify that on several occasions we have bailed many people from Police custody even around 2am.
“We told the police in the constituencies that when they see you carrying an operation they should not disturb you because when they do, you have powers at the highest level. So we told them this for them to know that you are a cornerstone of the party. Apart from robbery there is nothing we cannot do. When we attend national meetings we always receive praises,” commander Azongo announced.
He was addressing dozens of members of the group stationed across the 31 constituencies in the region. The gathering was held at the Aliu Mahama Sports Stadium last Saturday, January 6, after a clean-up exercise at some public centres including the Tamale West Hospital, to challenge public opinion towards the group.
He also asked group members to be vigilant and be quick in responding to any deeds of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).
“When you see a member of the NDC doing things that would bring down our party, quickly inform us and we will storm the area and ensure there is orderliness…that’s all I have for you,” the commander concluded.
He assured his force of jobs in the near future, adding they will resort to aggression if government fails to secure them jobs.
“As a leader in your area inform us about recruitments in you areas. We have powers to stop the recruitment if you are denied that job,” he boasted.
