NDC 'ARSONISTS' IN COURT

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Two out of five people accused by the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) government for setting fires into various markets in the country were put before an Accra district court yesterday.

The remaining three were said to have been released by the security agencies without any charge but a source told DAILY GUIDE that they were released because investigations later found out that they are NDC supporters.

The two, Yakubu Tahiru aka Rasta spotted in dreadlocks and Fatau Ibrahim, appeared before the Ajdabeng District Magistrate Court 2 in Accra presided over by Mrs. Emelai Abruquah but neither the charges nor facts of the case were read to the suspects.

The suspects according to the John Mahama administration are linked to the Makola No2 market at Agblogbloshie in Accra.

Apparently all the suspects including those released were brought to the court on Monday afternoon but the Magistrate declined jurisdiction and when they returned to the same court yesterday, only two were in the dock.

In Court

They were brought in handcuffs in an unregistered Hyundai Saloon car in the company of two plain clothed police officers.

When the case was called around 12.50pm, all the prosecutor who is a Police Chief Inspector could tell the court was that “we want them remanded…our investigations have not been completed.”

This incensed counsel for the accused, Carl Adongo who appealed passionately to the judge to grant bail to his clients because he said the state was unduly abusing their rights.

“I don’t know what the prosecution is about…you arrest five people, grant bail to three and deny the others their liberties,” he lamented.

He told the Magistrate that the prosecution had a duty to explain to the court what the offence was as well as facts of the case to enable the court to take a decision on the grant of bail but they failed to do so.

“This is not right,” Mr. Adongo told the court, adding “we all have a right just like the state.”

He said the state should be able to tell the court exactly what the accused persons had done to warrant their detention, stressing “their fundamental human rights is being abused.”

He said that if the state continues to detain people without a charge everybody could be at risk but the courts were there to ensure that such ‘grave injustices’ did not happen.

Mr. Adongo said his clients were prepared to face trial and 

added that “it will not cause any harm if they are granted bail.”

“When you look at the docket they are five accused persons but on the charge sheet only two are mentioned.”

Mrs. Abruquah then ruled that she was declining jurisdiction because “this is beyond this court.”

She said from the charge sheet, the accused persons had been charged under Section 172 (2) of Act 30 which talks about first degree felony and which the court has no jurisdiction.

On Monday, DAILY GUIDE uncovered the identities of four of the six persons that government announced had been arrested over the fire outbreaks at major market centres in the country.

The paper had gathered that one of the arrested persons attempted committing suicide while in the custody of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI).

Propaganda

Government kept secret the names of the suspects though a Deputy Minister for Information, Murtala Mohammed, announced last Thursday that the arrests were made when the people attempted to burn another market.

On the morning of Thursday, June 20, the deputy Minister had told the media that “what I can tell you is that some arrests have been made but as to the number, when and where, I think it is not appropriate for me to put it out there.”

“But I think as part of the processes to have transparent governance, it is important the people know what is actually happening and that is why we would want Ghanaians to know that some arrests have been made and also they foiled attempts to even burn some markets.”

“The information I have is that these people are not security personnel and as the information comes, the people of this country would know because the information is ongoing and I think that Ghanaians must be on track as to how far the investigation has gone and as to whether there have been some successes if you like with regards to finding out what actually caused the unabated fires that we have but I can tell you without any shred of doubt that there have been some arrests made from not only one part of the country.”

“According to the minister it also confirms the position of the President that he would not rule out arson with regards to these fire outbreaks. I think preliminary reports vindicate the President’s statement.”

However, ever since the arrest of the people more fire incidents have been recorded.

Only yesterday, two fire incidents occurred in Accra and Kumasi Magazine, where shops were gutted.

Rambo Style

Checks by DAILY GUIDE revealed that the arrested persons included some four men from Bawku in the Upper East Region who are all resident in Accra.

They were arrested in ‘Rambo style’ amidst warning gun shots at Avenor near Neoplan Station in Accra at a place known as ‘Articulator Station’ on Wednesday June 19 at about 5:00pm.

Four of the suspects were Shaibu Bashar, a university graduate who just completed his National Service at the Ministry of Defence; Yakubu Tahiru aka Rasta, a 28-year-old bicycle and motorbike repairer; Mustapha Adamu, a self-employed mobile phones repairer who was trained by Rlg and Fatau Ibrahim, a 26-year-old welder-apprentice who makes an additional income by working part-time as a commercial motorbike operator popularly known as ‘Okada’.

Since their arrest on the evening of Wednesday June 19, they had been denied their human rights of access to a lawyer and were detained more than 48-hours in custody without trial by any court.

A security source told DAILY GUIDE the suspects were initially sent to the Greater Accra Regional Police headquarters, but were moved Thursday morning to the CID headquarters at the Police Headquarters and then to the headquarters of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI). They were, however, sent back to the CID headquarters because one of them, Mustapha, had attempted committing suicide.

Some 15 security officials, armed to the teeth, arrived at the Articulator Station at Avenor near Neoplan Station Wednesday evening and surrounded the wooden kiosk in which Yakubu Tahiru aka Rasta repaired bicycles and motorbikes.

Rasta was not around at the time, but other occupants of the shop, Shaibu Bashar and Fatau were arrested. Mustapha, whose phone shop was next to Rasta’s shop and was passing by at the time, was also picked up.

The presence of armed men jumping out of cars and surrounding wooden kiosks attracted a swelling curious crowd to the scene but several warning shots were fired to scare them away. Later, on Wednesday night, Rasta’s home at Sowutuom, a suburb of Accra, was also invaded. He was picked up and his room thoroughly searched.

Shaibu was said to have resisted arrest and was therefore subjected to ‘minimal force’ which was so brutal that he was sent to the hospital by his captors next morning.

Reports said Shaibu’s wife had been delivered of a baby in Bawku and he had bought a bus ticket to attend the naming ceremony. However, since the bus would take off around 6:00pm, he took a stroll to Rasta’s shop to while away the time and chat with friends, when the armed men stormed the place around 5:00pm and whisked him away.