GROUP CALLS FOR INVESTIGATIONS INTO BAWKU KILLINGS (Page 39)

Story: Benjamin Xornam Glover, Bolgatanga

Some concerned citizens of Bawku in the Upper East Region have appealed to the government to institute immediate investigations into the recent secret murders in the area.
They have also entreated the security agencies on the ground to be proactive to prevent the killings in the area.
Making the appeal at Bolgatanga, a youth activist, Mr Mohammed Tahiru Nambe, said if immediate measures were not taken to arrest the culprits the security of the Bawku township would be further jeopardised.
According to Mr Nambe, on January 2 this year, one Bugri S. Bukari was abducted and brutally murdered at Sabongeri, a suburb of Bawku.
He said following that incident, a number of motorbikes had been snatched at gunpoint at the same suburb, which is gradually becoming a no-go area.
“Each of these incidents has been reported to the police and nothing significant has been done to protect innocent people,” he alleged.
He said on February 5, this year, a 23-year-old man, motor taxi operator or “okada man” and a known NPP activist, Mr Faisal Musah Bawume, was lynched by thugs at the same suburb and his bike taken from him.
Mr Nambe explained that the deceased was on his way from Missiga with a passenger when he was attacked and met his untimely death.
“These dastardly acts have been well planned, calculated, designed by thugs and cowards who do not comprehend the democratic era we find ourselves in,” he stressed. He said the perpetrators of this cowardice and barbaric act should bury their heads in shame and know that there was no way that lies should vanquish over truth.
He said it had become apparent that the peripheries of Bawku had become lawless and there was absolute absence of order and reasoning. “Survival of the fittest has become the order of the day,” he emphasised.
Mr Nambe alleged that no arrest had so far been made by the police since ceasefire was declared in the area on January 3, this year.
“About 99.9 per cent of the cases reported to the police is meted out to innocent people at the outskirts with impunity. The security apparatus seem not to be doing enough to bring the situation under control,” he alleged.
He said people in the Bawku township irrespective of their ethnic and religious background were likely to be lynched when they travelled out of the township.
Reacting to the story, a police source at Bawku gave the assurance that the police and related security agencies were monitoring the situation and had taken several measures to contain it.
Meanwhile, the NPP aspiring parliamentary candidate for the Bawku Central Constituency in the Upper East Region, Mr Adamu Daramani, has expressed concern over the unstable security conditions prevailing in the Bawku township.
 Citing the recent death of Faisal Bawume (the NPP activist), Mr Daramani said unlike the past when the conflict was limited to differences between Mamprusis and Kusasis, the present situation went beyond the two tribes, extending to political differences.
 He has, therefore, appealed to the government to sit up and tackle the problem.
 Mr Daramani said “Bawku is a major trading town but with what is going on now, things are grounding to a halt. Trading activities are not as vibrant as they used to be, schools are not functioning effectively and anxiety seems to have taken a better part of the people.