Bawku killings: Parliament calls for calm
Members of Parliament are calling for calm in Bawku following the recent alleged military killings in the area.
In a statement in Parliament on the killings in Bawku, the MP for the area, Mahama Ayaiga, and the Minister for Defence, Dominic Nitiwil, called on the youth to surrender their guns for peace to prevail.
Contributing on the matter, Minister for Defence, Dominic Nitiwil, stated that the current situation in that part of the country, if not stopped, could escalate or possibly attract intruders into Ghana using the Bawku route.
In the statement, Mr. Ayariga condemned ongoing violence over there and alleged how Sumaila Jafaru, a 12-year-old boy, watched soldiers gruesomely kill his father in a garden at Baratinga, a suburb of Missiga electoral area in Bawku Municipality.
He said, the 12-year-old Jafaru took to his heels and headed in the direction of their family home.
“I personally saw bullet holes on the wall of their house caused by gunshots by soldiers who shot at this 12 year-old boy and missed him as he sought to escape their brutality. Upon reaching the front of his family house, Jafaru jumped into a mud barn used to store dry hay in front of the compound. Eyewitnesses account too say that from afar they saw the men in military uniform who chased 12 year-old Jafaru into the barn, and subsequently they saw the hay in the barn burning. 12-year-old Jafaru was most likely hit by these bullets shot into the barn in which he sought to hide, but the fire started burning his body in the barn.”
He went on to state that six other persons were similarly shot and killed in the valley in military-style execution within the view of eyewitnesses. Four of them were apprehended in the valley, and after their hands were tied to their backs, the men in Ghana Armed Forces uniforms took turns shooting them one after the other as they cried aloud and asked for mercy. I saw with my very eyes the blood of these helpless victims of the men who are supposed to protect them.
According to him, “the valley has many mango trees. Some of the gardeners took refuge in the trees. So what the soldiers did was within their full view and hearing, and they have come forward to give eyewitness accounts.”
The MP further disclosed that six citizens were killed and how they were killed, as provided below:
1. Akudugu Bugnaba Karim
A 31-year-old nurse was running away when he heard gunshots from the armoured vehicles and soldiers on foot approaching their community. His home address is MC 146 Songuri- Missiga. He was married and survived by three children. His mother, Issifu Ayishetu, and father, Akudugu Issifu, are both alive. He died of gunshot wounds. Eyewitnesses confirm seeing him being chased by a group of military men, some on foot and others using an armoured vehicle. This incident occurred at the same “valley of death” near Sunguri primary school where some members of the community had sought refuge.
2. Abunbiana Madi
The 33-year-old man was survived by three (3) wives and six (6) children. He lived at the address MC 147, Songuri, in the Missiga Electoral Area. His father, Mamudu Abunbiana, and mother, Mamudu Salamatu, are both alive. He was a motorcycle mechanic who was temporarily living and working in Kumasi but had just come home to visit his family. He died of gunshot wounds inflicted by the military. Men wearing military uniforms were seen chasing him on foot, while some were in the armour vehicle and shot at him as though it was a game. He was subsequently apprehended and murdered in the “valley of death”.
3. Kassim Issah
Age:33 and lived at the address House No. ME43, Zoogin Missiga.He was married with 1 child. His mother, Kassim Habiba, is still alive. He died of military gunshot wounds to his head. Eyewitnesses say he was shot in the head at very close range in the “valley of death” when he took refuge on a mango tree.
4. Ndeego Mumuni
Age: 39 and a resident of house number ME23, Baratinga, Missiga. He was married to one wife and had five children. He died of gunshot wounds inflicted by the military. He was in his garden watering his plants in the garden. The location of the incident was his garden in the same “valley of death”
5. Haruna Kudus
Aged 17 and a resident of house No. ME36 Zoogin, Missiga, he died of gunshots by the military in the same valley.
6. Ayuma Eliasu
Aged 37 and a resident of Sarabogo, Pusiga, he happened to be in the vicinity. He is married with 2 wives and survived by 7 children. He died of gunshot wounds inflicted by the military. The incident occurred in the same valley near Sunguri Primary School.
By GBC
