Military used minimum force – Army chief explains Ejura shooting

An army commander has said that the military was compelled to use the least force and fired only to ward off protesters at Ejura in the Ashanti Region on June 29.

The General Officer Commanding for the Central Command of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF), Brigadier General Joseph Ahpour, believes personnel needed to fire back after they heard gunshots coming from the direction of the protestors.

However, Brigadier Ahpour added that the warning shots were to scare the protestors and not to kill them.

He was giving an account of the Ejura disturbance that snapped the lives of two persons when he appeared before the committee tasked to probe the incident.

“When we got to the general area of the cemetery, and they [protesters] started issuing warning threats to the police and military team, we started giving verbal warnings which we do in the military, but they didn’t listen,” he narrated to the three-member committee chaired by Justice George Kingsley Koomson.

“So we fired warning shots, and we realized that some shots were also fired from the crowd. At that stage, it was becoming too bad for civilians to be firing at the security personnel.

“I think the commander then had to use minimum force by ordering his personnel to begin firing at those who were firing from the crowd to maim them. After our fire, we didn’t have instant deaths.

“They were evacuated to the hospital, where we later heard two died. But at the instant of our fire, the crowd withdrew and everything came under our control,” Brigadier General narrated on Wednesday, July 7.

When asked whether there was a need to use live ammunition during a protest, he said the situation could have been worse had they not taken such drastic measures.

“Of course, when you [security personnel] fire warning shots, and you see people firing from the crowd, certainly you have to use live ammunition to maim,” he justified.

According to him, they also arrested two persons with weapons and reported to the police.

What led to the protests?

Ibrahim Muhammed, also known as Kaaka, was attacked by a mob, and he later died due to injuries.

Witness accounts showed that the deceased was ambushed in front of his house when he was returning home on his motorbike at about 1:30 am on Sunday, June 27, 2021.

Ibrahim Muhammed was rushed to the Ejura Government Hospital to receive medical treatment after the attack.

He was later transferred to the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, where he died at midday on Monday, June 28, 2021, the Ashanti Regional Police Public Relations Officer (PRO), Godwin Ahianyo, told the media at a press briefing.

Providing an account of the incident, the widow of the deceased, Sahada Hudu, said she found him in a pool of blood after the attack.

“I thought my husband was driving away goats from the house at the time. Little did I know that he was being attacked. We saw him in a pool of blood. The people bolted as soon as we opened the door to check what was happening,” she recounted.

Before his death, Ibrahim Muhammed, aged 45, took to social media, where he posts critiques in the Ejura Municipality and other issues of national importance.

His last activity on Facebook was to share a post criticizing the arrest of 15 members of the #TheFixCountry at the High Court Complex on June 25.

In the aftermath of his death, scores of angry residents stormed the streets in Ejura to demand justice over the murder of Ibrahim Muhammed aka Kaaka, a social activist.

Two shot dead, four hospitalised

Two protestors were left dead while four others were left in critical condition after law enforcement officers shot into a crowd demonstrating over the death of a #FixTheCountryNow campaigner.

The other injured persons were taken to the Ejura Government Hospital for treatment.

Court Remands Three Suspected Killers Of Kaaka

Meanwhile, a District Court in Asokwa in the Ashanti Region on July 2, remanded three into police custody in connection with the murder of Kaaka.

Isaka Ibrahim, aka Anyas, Fuseini Alhassan and Idi Mohammed, were slapped with conspiracy to commit crime, to wit murder.

The three are to reappear on July 22, 2021.