The wrecked Toyota Land Cruiser
TWO LEADING MEMBERS of government, both from the Bawku Traditional Area, were at the weekend involved in motor accidents in the Northern and Upper West regions.
In Tamale, the deputy Minister of Education, Mahama Ayariga was treated for serious injuries at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Tamale Teaching Hospital after his official vehicle was involved in an accident between Nasia and Kukobila, off the Bolgatanga highway on Sunday morning.
Cletus Avoka, Majority Leader in Parliament and former Minster of the Interior, also escaped death in Zebilla.
Our correspondent in Lamboya reported that the Majority Leader and Member of Parliament for Zebilla, and two others, escaped death by the whiskers after his Toyota Land Cruiser V8 with registration number GT 2412 Z, somersaulted and landed on its side at Lamboya, a suburb of Zebilla on Saturday.
Mr. Ayariga was travelling with his driver Simon Amoah and two other passengers when the accident occurred. The driver and the others who sustained minor injuries have since been treated and discharged.
DAILY GUIDE sources revealed that the deputy Minister was heading to Tamale to catch a flight to Accra Sunday morning, after joining the president’s entourage to tour the Upper East region when the accident occurred.
According to the Walewale District Police Commander, ASP Asampana, the front of his ash Toyota Land Cruiser with registration GT 541-11 has been badly mangled.
Eyewitnesses said the driver of the deputy minister’s vehicle attempted overtaking another vehicle but saw an oncoming vehicle.
In his attempt to return to his lane, he ran into a stationary Kia truck with registration number AW 1053 Z.
The deputy minister and the passengers on his vehicles were badly injured.
The occupants of the vehicle were rescued by other road users, and with the help of the police, they were rushed to the Tamale Teaching Hospital where the minister was taken to the theatre for surgery.
Sources at the Hospital told DAILY GUIDE the injured minister was later admitted at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) after undergoing the emergency surgery.
Hospital authorities hinted that there were fears the minister suffered internal bleeding.
At the time of filing this report, sources hinted that plans were in place to fly Ayariga to Accra for further medical attention.
In the case of Avoka, he was said to be heading towards his Zebilla constituency in the Bawku West district, from Navrongo in the Kassena-Nankana East District, where he attended the climax of the 50th anniversary of the Navrongo Senior High School, as an old student.
Eyewitnesses told DAILY GUIDE that, but for the robust nature of the MP’s vehicle, the damage and level of injuries would have been severe.
Though attempts by DAILY GUIDE to talk to the MP on Saturday night failed, he was heard on Joy FM yesterday morning, saying he was doing well together with his driver, but said his bodyguard had sustained some serious injuries and was responding to treatment.
According to the MP, one of the tyres of the vehicle burst and it immediately veered off the road.
He said he was X-rayed because doctors suspected pieces of broken glasses from the vehicle could have entered his body and spent a night under observation.
The Zebilla District Police Commander, DSP Owusu Mpianin, told journalists that around 5:15pm on Saturday, the DCE for Bawku West, Anaaba Adam Imoro, called to inform him about the accident.
Prior to these two accidents, a man who claimed to have been anointed by God, and called himself ‘Prophet’ Freeman, was said to have phoned into A1 Radio in Bolgatanga to say that President Mill’s life was in danger and he should be careful as he ended his tour of the Upper East region.
According to ‘Prophet’ Freeman, who lives at Bohyen in Kumasi, he had been praying for peace in the Bawku municipality and had a revelation that some evil persons had planned to kill the President at Bawku on Saturday March 26, 2011.
He asked a journalist with the radio station to extend the message to the President’s security head not to stop at Bawku on his way from Garu, where he launched a campaign to revamp the cotton industry in the Upper East region.
“If he does not stop, he will triumph over the evil persons, however those people will pursue him spiritually,” he told the radio station.
According to the journalist, even though he did not believe Freeman’s claims, he passed on the message to the presidency.
Events revealed that the President did not stop at Bawku but travelled on to attend a church service at Eastwood Anaba’s Fountain Gate Chapel in Bolgatanga before leaving for the Upper West region.
But the question on the lips of all is whether the two accidents involving the two influential people from the Bawku Traditional Area, who are leading members of the government, were the results of the spiritual attacks that ‘Prophet’ Freeman predicted.
From Stephen Zoure, Tamal & Ebo Bruce-Quansah, Lamboya, Zebilla
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