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The New Patriotic Party (NPP) on Thursday described the arrest of Mr Kennedy Ohene Agyapong as an �abuse of power through deployment of State resources against political opponents and not about the enforcement of Ghana�s laws.� In a statement signed by NPP National Chairman, Mr Jake Obetesbi-Lamptey, and copied to the Ghana News Agency in Accra, the leading opposition party described the treason charge against Mr Agyapong, the NPP Member of Parliament for Assin North, �as diversionary tactics.� �The arrest is a diversionary act by a failing, incompetent and corrupt government that has lost touch with the concerns of the ordinary people of Ghana." The NPP said the treason charge levelled against Mr Agyapong was a mockery of the law being perpetrated for reckless partisan advantage, sacrificing the rule of law and the national interest for political gain. �The NPP is worried that the NDC Government is deliberately building an environment that will compromise the potential for a free, fair, and peaceful election in Ghana,� the statement said. �The arrest, detention and prosecution of Mr Agyapong are, in our view, not because the Government is genuinely concerned about the use of intemperate language, which has been actively wielded by some of its own supporters in this heated election cycle with no consequences brought to bear,� it claimed. �The arrest, detention and prosecution of this leading member of the NPP are purely to serve two major agendas of the ruling party: To put fear in the NPP; to intimidate and cow our leadership into submission, and to punish Mr Agyapong for leading the crusade on the single biggest corruption scandal in the history of Ghana -the unlawful payments of dubious multi-million dollar judgment debts by the Government to mainly individuals close to the NDC.� The NPP said seeking to discredit the character of Mr Agyapong would not whitewash the criminal wrongdoing of the Government. �We have no doubt the case will be laughed out of court eventually...Mr Agyapong has done nothing to show that he has the capacity to levy war against his motherland, nor was he engaged in a criminal conspiracy to mount one,� it said. �Ghana is long past the days when criticizing a weakness of the current government or making an irresponsible remark should amount to treason.� The party explained that in Ghana, before a charge of treason is levelled against a person, the State must prove beyond all reasonable doubt that Article 17 of the Constitution has been breached. The NPP stressed that Mr Agyapong�s tone, manner and the unnecessary reference to ethnicity was a clear misjudgement� �It is clear that these views do not reflect those of his party and his Constituency, but were offered out of his own personal frustration for the current state of affairs and polarised political environment in Ghana. �Long before the MP�s pronouncements, there had been violence across this country. The NPP sees this as the inevitable outcome of the NDC�s discriminatory, patronage-based governance and policies. �The charge of treason levelled against Mr Agyapong for comments no different than those offered by other NDC representatives is only the latest example of selective justice.� The party said it was frustrated by �the system of Apartheid in the Odododiodio Constituency in relation to the Biometric Voter Registration exercise.�� The statement said: �People who are ordinarily resident in the Odododiodio Constituency but deemed by National Democratic Congress (NDC) agents to have non-Ga-sounding names or who cannot speak Ga are prevented from registering�. The NPP described the reported acts as a �blatant breach of the Constitution....� �In our view this has been the starting point of violence and the introduction of ethnic divisions in the ongoing biometric registration exercise.� It alleged that the Police had refused to take action to bring men, especially NDC sympathizers, who had been identified to have engaged in acts of violence to justice. �Yet, when a member of the NPP voices his deep frustration at the selectivity with which the Ghana Police Service is upholding and enforcing the laws of the country, he is whisked away with lightning fast speed and immediately charged with treason.� �This will deepen the divides within the country and set a dangerous precedent,� the NPP stated.