General News of Wednesday, 22 November 2017
Source: citifmonline.com
2017-11-22
Ambrose Dery, Interior Minister
The Interior Minister, Ambrose Dery, has told Parliament that the two suspected criminals who were recently shot in Police custody at Asawase in the Ashanti Region, were individuals who had been robbing and terrorizing residents of Kumasi.
According to him, the suspects were shot when they attempted to escape custody, whilst the police conducted a search at one of their hideouts to retrieve weapons.
He said, police information indicates that, victims of recent robberies identified the two in a recent parade conducted in the Ashanti Regional capital, Kumasi.
The shooting and killing of the two sparked riots in the area prompting the Speaker to summon the Interior Minister to the house today [Wednesday]. Addressing MPs, Ambrose Dery said investigations were still underway to determine the full facts of the matter.
Meanwhile, the MP for the area, Muntaka Mubarak, is disputing some of the claims by the Minister.
According to the Minister, one of the suspects, Audu Osman, is a man of sound character and could not have been an armed robber.
Background
Awudu Osman, also known as Awudu Ninja, was shot and killed by police with his alleged accomplice Lukeman Mohammed, also known as Alfa.
Final funeral rites had been held for both suspects according to Islamic tradition.
Relatives of Osman have intensified their call for justice for the deceased after they had given Government and the Inspector General of Police (IGP) a three-day ultimatum to investigate the death.
The situation prompted the Asawase Member of Parliament, Muntaka Mubarak, to raise the matter on the floor of Parliament, where he requested that the Interior Minister be made to appear before MPs to speak to the matter.
Mr. Muntaka, who was at the funeral on Sunday, reiterated his resolve to get to the bottom of the matter.
“For us, we will continue to pursue till we get justice for him. I mean, the Minister for Interior has Tuesday or Wednesday to come and brief the house, and obviously, I think we will push for an independent investigation so that we don’t leave it to the police, but we will get an independent body to investigate this so we can ascertain the truth.”
The Asawase MP, who later visited the pregnant widow of one of the deceased persons, said she was still traumatized over the incident, and feared her children and other relatives could be stigmatized in the future.
He cautioned the youth to be patient and not to take the laws into their hands. He also urged relatives of the deceased to cooperate with the process in their quest to seek justice for the deceased persons.
The family is yet to get a copy of an autopsy report which was handed to police by doctors on Thursday.
