A prosecution witness in the trial of Gregory Afoko, who has been accused of murdering the Eastern Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Adams Mahama, has told the court that the accused person, upon his arrest, threatened to “show” the deceased if he attempted to interfere in the activities of his group.
DSP Thomas Yaw Agbanyo, who was the Regional Public Affairs Officer (PRO) at the Bolgatanga Police Headquarters at the time of the incident, indicated that Afoko said his group ‘Friends of Afoko’ would resist all attempts by the deceased to obstruct their work.
The police officer, who is now the District Commander of Kpeve District in the Volta Region, said Afoko had been his acquaintance for about 10 years, adding that “I call him Rasta and he calls me Chief, Chief.”
Led in his evidence-in-chief by Mathew Amponsah, a Chief State Attorney, DSP Agbanyo told the court that Afoko, upon his arrest, wondered why the police were “following this foolish man,” referring to the deceased.
He said the accused while in the police vehicle told them that one Asabke Alangdi, who is now on the run, was the leader of the 50-member group.
DSP Agbanyo told the court that on May 21, 2018 he was on patrol at the Yinike Link, a suburb of Bolgatanga, together with four other police officers.
He stated that at about 1:30 am, the driver of a vehicle from the Navrongo direction pulled over introduced himself as an executive of the NPP in the region.
“He told us that some people had poured some substance suspected to be acid on the deceased and that he had been rushed to the Bolgatanga Government Hospital and that he was going there. So the patrol team followed up to the hospital.
“When we got there we saw the deceased Adams Mahama at the emergency ward lying on the hospital bed almost naked with a piece of cloth around his waist.”
“The medical team was attending to him and there were burns on the upper part of his body, and the flesh was pilling off.
“We saw many people at the hospital, including family members, as well as Tofic and the widow,” DSP Agbanyo told the court.
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