The late Alhassan Azumah
The gruesome murder of a Deputy Registrar of the Bolgatanga Technical University, and Director of Public Affairs, Alhassan Azumah, has sent horrifying signals to some influential persons from the Bawku Traditional Area, living in and out of the area.
The Bolgatanga Technical University was yet to issue a statement or make any public comment on the murder of Mr. Azumah at the time of filing this report on Sunday, January 21, 2024.
The Police in the Bolgatanga Municipality had also not issued a statement nor made any public comment to the local press in the Upper East Region about carrying out any investigation or linking the killing to any existing conflict.
Alhassan Azumah, who is in his late 40s, was reported to have been shot multiple times around his upper body at his residence at Sokabisi, a suburb of Bolgatanga, around 7:00 pm on Wednesday, January 17, 2024.
According to eyewitness reports, the yet to be identified killers fled from the residence on a motorbike, and kept firing warning shots to pave way for their escape.
The late Alhassan Azumah is a native of Bawku, and served as an Assembly Member for the Misiga Electoral Area. He also served on the Bawku Inter- Ethnic Peace Committee. He was influential and respected in Bawku due to his role towards the restoration of peace in the area.
Meanwhile, some three other influential persons from the Bawku Traditional Area who spoke to the Daily Guide on condition of anonymity, expressed worry as they all wondered whether the murder of Mr. Azumah was a spillover from the recent killings in the Bawku Municipality.
“… I need to be afraid because if Alhassan’s death is connected to the incident in Bawku, then you can’t tell who will be the next. What is happening in Bawku is very dangerous; the killers are targeting people whose deaths will hurt the entire Bawku or their opponents.
“I am not joking, my brother, I am scared, especially because you don’t know the persons behind the killings. … Now if I decide to run; where do I run to and who do I run from?” One of the three said.
Another said, “… you can’t move around casually anymore. The situation requires that you should be alert all the time, and so whether I am in Bawku or Bolga, I am alert. It is a bad situation, and I hope what I am thinking is not what it is. I am worried.”
In November 2023, there was an attempt to kill Dr. John Kinsley Krugu, the New Patriotic Party’s parliamentary candidate for the Zebilla Constituency in the Bawku Traditional Area and National Coordinator of Landscape Restoration and Small-Scale Mining Project, at his residence in Bolgatanga.
There are fears that these incidents may be a spillover from the Bawku crisis, and the security agencies must pay attention and put measures to ensure that it is nipping in the bud.
By Michael Bonsu