Daniel Asiedu and the Late JB Danquah
The family of Joseph Boakye Danquah-Adu aka JB, Member of Parliament (MP) for Abuakwa North in the Eastern Region, who was murdered in cold blood last year, has made a passionate appeal to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to order the security agencies to re-open the whole case again.
Although two young men are currently standing trial at an Accra High Court over the gruesome murder of the former New Patriotic Party (NPP) MP, the family is insisting that justice might never be served due to the way in which the security agencies, particularly the Ghana Police Service, have handled the case so far.
A petition jointly signed by N. Kwaku Solomon and Kofi Atta, spokespersons for the Acheampong family which they say represents JB said, “Just as the Ghanaian people want to know, tens of questions are lingering on the minds of the late J.B. Danquah-Adu’s family which includes you (Mr. President) requires immediate steps to unravel the mystery behind his murder and arrest and prosecution of all those who have a hand in this.
Security Mistrust
In the petition, the family recounted instances that have given them cause to come to the conclusion that the late JB’s killers might never be found if the president does not intervene.
It said in the petition titled, ‘Petition to re-commission investigations into late Hon. J.B. Danquah-Adu’s murder due to the lack of evidence by the Ghana Police Service’ that, “We are not happy with the Ghana Police Service. To us as a nation, we have confidence in them but their action has put their integrity on the line.”
Clear Instances
Citing examples, the agitated family said, “Credible media reports and preliminary accounts by the prime suspect, Daniel Asiedu, immediately after his arrest suggest that he was hired to kill J.B. Danquah-Adu, a man who held the centre of our family and thousands of his constituents among others.”
The family added, “A DAILY GUIDE newspaper publication reported that the suspect, Daniel Asiedu, told the police he was contracted to kill our cousin J.B. Danquah-Adu, for a price of GH¢2,000, part of which he used to buy shoes,” adding, “Interestingly enough, his accounts at the police station changed shortly after he was sent to the BNI cell and subsequently to the court. He claimed to have gone on a robbery expedition!”
No Robbery
The spokespersons said, “Mr. President, it is worthwhile to note that a number of security analysts ruled out robbery as the motive for the murder and that everything points to a premeditated attack. Meanwhile, the suspect reportedly mentioned names of his accomplice and others who may have hired him to commit the crime during the preliminary stage of the investigations but later changed his statement in court.
“Mr. President, if the society we live in cannot protect its citizens or seek justice for such an honorable and astute businessman, who as a matter of fact is your cousin and his family fought with their blood to attain independence for our dear nation, then what is the faith of the ordinary hawker on the street and millions of homeless Ghanaian citizens if they fall into such circumstances?” they wondered.
Shock News
On February 9, 2016, Ghanaians woke up to the shocking news of the murder of JB at Shiashie, near East Legon, Accra.
The Greater Accra Regional Police Commander, then led by COP Akuffo Dampare, quickly swung into action and arrested a suspect called Daniel Asiedu, aka Sexy Don Don – a native of Larteh in the Eastern Region – after two days of the gruesome murder.
Asiedu, in his first statement, had made what was described as ‘mind-blowing’ revelations upon his arrest and even mentioned the amount of money paid him by his ‘recruiter(s)’ as well as the role allegedly played by an unnamed MP, a supposed member of a certain political party.
JB’s security man was said to be part of the plot, according to Asiedu.
BNI Custody
However, when the Bureau of National Investigation (BNI) took over the case for further investigation, Asiedu made a sudden U-turn, allegedly changing his thumb-printed statement by claiming that he had gone to the late JB Danquah-Adu’s house to rob and not to kill him.
Later on May 19, 2016, after being tossed between police and BNI custodies, Asiedu reportedly insisted that the statement he gave to the police on February 11 should be taken as the true reflection of what happened.
In the said statement extracted from him by the police in Accra, Asiedu, who had been returned to the police from BNI custody following a court order, had admitted that he committed the gruesome murder for a reward of GH¢2,000.
MP’s Assignment
He had said emphatically in his statement that it was one Junior Agogo, who appeared to have been identified as Vincent Bosso, and another called Avenger who recruited him for the alleged crime and that when he asked them about the source of the money, the two had told him it was an MP’s assignment.
Avenger was reportedly arrested by the police and it came at a time Asiedu had left the BNI cells.
Whilst at the BNI, Asiedu was said to be in solitary confinement and at one point claimed in court that the security operatives wanted to kill him through food poisoning.
Interesting Narration
“I was at Zongo Junction dealing in second-hand mobile phones when my friends, by names Junior and Avenger, approached me and said they had a job for me to execute for an amount of GH¢2,000. They did not tell me the type of job and I thought it was a stealing operation (sic),” Asiedu claimed in his statement.
He had told interrogators that on the following day, Tuesday, February 9, his two friends came in a taxi to pick him up at Madina Zongo Junction, went in the direction of Shiashie and stopped in front of a house and said there were flowers planted in front of it.
Ladder
“It was Junior who called the security man on duty and told him he had arrived. In the vehicle, Junior was also talking to someone on his phone but I could not tell whether it was the security man or any other person,” he had said, adding that the security man assisted them with a ladder and a table and Junior climbed first, followed by Avenger and then he (Daniel) followed after sometime.
JB’s Room
The three of them, he said, entered the room through JB’s window while he was sleeping.
He said Junior took the late MP’s two phones and a catapult and handed them over to him.
“It was Junior who stabbed JB with a knife,” Daniel had claimed, adding that he (Sexy Don Don) left the catapult and his slippers behind.
He claimed he was paid the GH¢2,000 before they got to the crime scene and that he later used GH¢300 out of the GH¢2,000 to buy some clothes.
Daniel added that he kept the MP’s Samsung mobile phone and told the other two what he got from the room.
Suspected Cover-up
On the eve of JB’s funeral last year, then NPP MP for Obuasi East, Edward Ennin, had lambasted the authorities for not doing enough to bring the perpetrators of the heinous crime to book and said on Adom TV that he suspected an official cover-up.
According to the vociferous former MP, there was a video recording that appeared to show the moment the assailants of the murdered MP left the crime scene at his Shiashie residence.
CCTV Footage
A close circuit television (CCTV) appears to have captured that moment when Mr Ennin said a white Nissan Altima left the scene after the gruesome murder at dawn that February 9, 2016.
He said what he saw in the video clearly showed that the security agencies investigating the gruesome murder had not done enough to track down the perpetrators of the dastardly crime.
“I am telling you that I have watched a CCTV video footage. The assailant had dressed like someone ready to fight karate. He was in black attire. A resident in the area had his/her CCTV camera capturing the assailant.
“There was a white car (Altima K45), which is popular in town. What was the car doing in the area at that material moment?” he queried.
By William Yaw Owusu