Evans Djikunu – Counsel for victims
A private legal practitioner is on the heels of bodyguards of former Speak of Parliament Edward Doe Adjaho for allegedly brutalizing some people during last year’s election day in the Volta Region.
Evans Gadeto Djikunu who contested the 2016 parliamentary seat at Akatsi South as independent candidate said in a petition to the Attorney General that one of the victims was brutally maimed by the Speaker’s bodyguards but the perpetrators are still walking free without any action by the police.
He mentioned the victims as Price Bumegbe, Mascot Ahiagbedor, Esianyo Agbesi, Francis Adeleke aka Possy, Ayitey Vorsah, Bright Dordzi, Agbemenya Deyram and Kofi Adziaka.
According to the lawyer, the ringleader of the assault was one Inspector Alhassan Musah who he said was the Speaker’s personal driver as well as General Lance Corporals: A. Kachire and John Doe, and the victims were all members of his election monitoring taskforce he formed to protect the ballot during the election on December 7, 2016.
In the petition which is seeking a re-opening of the case, the lawyer said at about 6pm on election day last year at a polling station in Wuxor, then DCE for Akatsi South called Samuel Wuadi arrived at the place and started making frantic phone calls and within minutes, a black landcruiser with registration ER 4419 – 10 arrived at the scene.
The lawyer said there were gunshots as his monitoring team was arriving at the polling station to monitor the counting of the ballot which was underway and the Speaker’s bodyguards who were in the company of a known NDC activist called Ackuako Kano started subjecting members of his taskforce to severe beatings without any provocation.
In the ensuing confusion, he said the policemen also shot the four tyres of the pick-up vehicle that the eight members were using to monitor the election, broke the windscreen and ordered them to lie face down or be shot before shooting the thighs of two them who bled profusely.
He said the policemen in the company of the DCE sent the victims to Ziope Police Station instead of a medical facility and later transferred them to Kpetoe Police Station and locked them up.
The lawyer said because counting was ongoing he sent a delegation to Kpetoe Police Station to bail the victims but they were refused so he had to personally travel to Ho to meet then Volta Regional Police Commander DCOP Dedjoe before they were granted bail.
He claimed that the Akatsi South Police Command under whose jurisdiction the incident occurred did not show any interest in the case and the commander, Superintendent Fiakpui, did not care before the case was transferred to CID Headquarters in Accra.
He said in Accra he was instructed to see ASP Prosper Torgbe who in turn handed him over to one Inspector Darkwa and he was asked to bring all the witnesses in the case to Accra which he did and their statements taken.
He said since February 2017, he has been pursuing the police to act on the case but to no avail and hoped justice is going to be served this time around.
By William Yaw Owusu