Bawku Boys Arrested Over Market Fires (PHOTO)

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Created on Monday, 24 June 2013 00:00

Bawku Boys Arrested Over Market Fires

24 June 2013

Daily Guide has 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.

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

Government had 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.

Checks by Daily Guide revealed that the arrested persons included some four men from Bawku in the Upper East Region who were all resident in Accra.

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

The four 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’.

Lawyer for the suspects, Majid Armandi said he was working hard to secure bail for them. He confirmed to Joy Fm that the suspects hail from Bawku but are temporary residents in Accra.

He added that they were arrested on Tuesday but were yet to be charged. Mr Armandi said he had information about their arrest from their family members on Saturday and managed to speak to them at the CID Headquarters.

According to him, the investigator handling the case assured him that the suspects would be granted bail by yesterday but as at press time last night, no information had been heard about them. Shaibu Bashar was said to be the son of one of the contenders for the position of District Chief Executive in Bawku Central and he was the only one released Friday night.

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.

Rambo Style Arrest

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, on the outskirts 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.

Whom You Know

On Friday night, Shaibu Bashar was released after several highly-placed persons were said to have vouched for him.

Though no evidence was given, a police source told Daily Guide that Shaibu’s father is a contender for the position of District Chief Executive for Bawku Central and his father’s links to government played a key role in his unexplained release.

It was not clear what the fate of the others would be, as they were still in custody without trial or access to a lawyer.

Source: Daily Guide