The General Secretary of the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has said even the Inspector General of Police (IGP), David Asante-Apeatu, supports political party vigilante groups.

Mr Asiedu Nketia made the claim while responding to a statement by the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) condemning his recent endorsement of newly-formed vigilante groups of the NDC: The Hawks, Lions and Dragons.

The NCCE, on Friday, 7 September 2018, in a statement condemned Mr Asideu Nketia’s endorsement of party vigilante groups.

Mr Nketia endorsed the vigilante groups as a “natural response” to, what he described as the governing New Patriotic Party’s refusal to disband its own vigilante groups.

“I endorse it fully”, Mr Asiedu Nketia told journalists, justifying that it’s a “proper response” to the “recalcitrance of the ruling government and their refusal to do anything about vigilantes on the NPP side”.

The NCCE, in a statement, said it is “saddened” by this development which goes contrary to nationwide condemnation of political party vigilantism prior to the 2016 general election.

“The NCCE, as an independent governance institution, vehemently condemns the statement endorsing the formation of the NDC vigilante groups. The Commission takes the opportunity to, once again, remind all political parties of their responsibility towards the preservation of peace, law and order in our democratic dispensation,” the statement said.

In response, Mr Nketia told Class News’ Blessed Sogah in an exclusive interview that even the IGP condones vigilante groups.

He said: “When I returned from Ahafo, I met the IGP and told him that the things that are happening now in the Ahafo area, they’ve gone beyond politics, and they are in the realm of pure criminality. His response was that these things didn’t start from today…that was what Asante-Apeatu told me.”

Asked if the IGP was backing vigilante groups, Mr Aseidu Nketia said: “Yes, because the people who were arrested in connection with Eric Opoku’s attack, they have all since been set free and they are back in the village, they have launched a second attack even after the MP was attacked. So, tell me now my brother, when all these things were happening, where was the NCCE?”