“The rich gets pardon; the poor gets prison” is a popular Sociological maxim, which telling impact on the Ghanaian soil, as far as crime is concerned, cannot be gainsaid. In Ghana, money and power appear to be the main determinants of who goes to prison, and who walks about a free man.
Naaba Abdulai, a younger brother of the outgoing Local Government Minister, Collins Dauda, prior to the recent elections, boasted that he killed people at will, stressing that murder was his hobby.
That was after Naabu had claimed Mr Kennedy Agyapong, Member of Parliament for Assin Central in the Central Region, threatened to unleash the New Patriotic Party’s Invisible Forces on him.
In his words in a radio interview, Naabu stated: “Who is Kennedy Agyapong to threaten me with death? I am not afraid of anybody …should he dare come here, we will beat and burn him up … threatening to kill me? I will kill him first. We kill people every day, and so if they are ready, we are also ready. My life is important, and so I will not sit down for anybody to threaten me.”
When this information spread across the country, Ghanaians called on the security agencies to arrest the minister’s brother, but that fell on deaf ears. The Inspector General of Police’s disinterest in the matter emboldened Naabu to conclude that no one in this country could touch him.
Naabu converted his talks into real action on the day of the elections, where, in the company of two others, they attacked and inflicted cutlass wounds on about 10 innocent people in the Asutifi South Constituency for failing to vote massively for his brother in the parliamentary elections.
Now, the case is before the courts, and the man, who touts about killing human beings on a daily basis, is nowhere to be found. A bench warrant has been issued for his arrest. He feels it is in order if he eats humble pie, claiming his earlier threats were mere political talk. His reason for doing this is simple – the National Democratic Congress (NDC), in which his brother serves as minister, is on its way out of power.
We, at The Chronicle, concur that there was no way Naabu would regret his actions had the NDC won the December elections. Therefore, the laws of the land would have to deal ruthlessly with him, since he is a threat to society.
Meanwhile, The Chronicle reports in today’s edition that members of the Ahafo Youth Movement, a civil society group, have sent out the message that they are fully prepared to give Collins Dauda and his brother doses of their own medicine.
According to the group, it would be suicidal for the IGP to allow criminals to go scot free and brag on radio, and so, if the appropriate authorities failed to act, they would be left with no other option, than to take the law into their own hands.
The General Secretary of the group, Dwomoh Mensah Robert, recalled, with sadness, how towns in the district, for example, Mehame, Dadiesoaba, Nkasaim, Hwediem and Acherensua, some years ago, witnessed some mysterious deaths, sudden disappearances of people, dead bodies in rivers, refuse dumps and farms, but the police haven’t found the perpetrators of all those deaths till date.
The case of the Ahafo Youth Movement, however, is that “If someone living in this same area from his own mouth speaks on national radio stations that he and his guys have, over twenty years of shooting experience, and they have killed and will kill people on a daily basis, he must be arrested to give the names and number of people he admitted killing when he (Naaba) started his illegal mining activities in the area.”
The Chronicle admits that the group has a genuine concern, but the approach they intend to use, should nothing be done as soon as possible, is unlawful and illegal. While condemning the act, we want to advise them to be patient enough, especially, as the court has issued a warrant for Naabu’s arrest. The people’s role now should be to cooperate with the police to hunt for him.
For the security agencies, the paper wishes to entreat the police in particular, to desist from sparing relatives and friends of politicians, when they commit crimes. The law should be made to take its course, irrespective of who is involved.
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