The Chief of Lamashegu, Naa Ziblim Abdulai, has expressed his sadness about the shooting incident that took place in his traditional area on Sunday, February 13, 2022. He recalled similar incidents happened last year when officers of the Ghana Police Service invaded the Gbewa Palace in Yendi to arrest a suspect and some residents also brutalized in the metropolis.
“I want to tell Tamale DCE and the Coordinating Director that, what is happening in Tamale, we the Chiefs and our subjects are not happy. Not only yesterday, I want to give an account of what happened yesterday and remind us of what happened in the past.”
He said, “I was seated right here with three of my elders when we heard the gunshots at the roadside, we asked whether a car tyre had bust but I was told that was a gunshot then I got up and saw a person [injured] being held towards us – then I walked towards them, when they told me, Chief, he has been shot, then I instructed them to take him [injured person] to the hospital”.
The Lamashe Naa made these remarks when the Metropolitan Chief Executive of Tamale, Sule Salifu, together with some Security Chiefs on Monday (14th February, 2022) paid a courtesy call on him in the wake of the disturbances.
Naa Ziblim narrated the police officers in an attempt to escape from the angry community members left one of their colleagues in the area, adding, “Some individuals held him and were beating him but I quickly instructed some boys to take him to the palace for safety”.
The scuffle erupted when a patrol team of police officers chased an unregistered salon car to the Lamashegu palace Sunday afternoon. The driver of the vehicle was reportedly shot by the police personnel upon arriving at the palace.
Some residents angrily retaliated by pelting stones and other objects at the Lamashegu police command resulting in an indiscriminate gunshots. As a result, several individuals sustained various degrees of gunshot wounds and one person reportedly dead.
The Metropolitan Chief Executive of Tamale, Sule Salifu, has however apologized unreservedly to the Chiefs and people of the metropolis for what transpired and assured that an investigation will be conducted into the matter and punitive sanctions taken against the perpetrators.
“In our meeting before coming here, we said it, that, it is unacceptable for anyone to chase another and when the person runs into the palace, you still pursue the person; when that is done, it doesn’t show respect to the Chief and also undermine the authority of the traditional leader” the Mayor asserted.
The Tamale Mayor on behalf of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo also commended Naa Ziblim Abdulai for safeguarding the life of the police officer.
Meanwhile, a police statement signed on Monday by DCOP Kwesi Ofori, Director-General of Public Affairs, announced the interdiction of six police officers involved in the shooting incident at Lamashegu.
The statement said, “Following an initial investigation into the shooting at Lamashegu in Tamale, involving the Tamale District Patrol team, the police administration has interdicted the following police officers:
- No 46497 General Corporal Samson Kweku Darfour
- No 50249 General Corporal Prosper Mormesimu
- No 56190 General Constable Harrison Twum Danson Driver
- No 57436 General Constable Mathew Sah
- No 58823 General Constable Nuhu Muntari
- No 11319 PW/Constable Doris Serwa Bonsu
