Ejura Killings: Mahama's 'De-escalate' Call, A Good One - Atik
Former General Secretary of the People's National Convention (PNC), Atik Mohammed, has backed the calls by Ex-President John Dramani Mahama on the Ejura killings.
The former President, speaking on the death of a social media activist and resident of Ejura named Ibrahim Mohammed a.k.a Macho Kaaka, has asked President Nana Akufo-Addo to direct an immediate de-escalation of the situation at Ejura in the Ashanti Region.
“I add my voice to calls for calm following the shooting to death of two persons and the injury to many in Ejura today, following the murder of youth activist Ibrahim ‘Kaaka’ Mohammed. I have just seen a video of the firing of live ammunition into a crowd by persons wearing military attire, after the burial of the murdered youth activist.
“There must be a very thorough investigation of both the murder of the youth activist and the security rules of engagement, which resulted in the shooting to death of the two others,” Mr. Mahama stated on his website.
Reacting to the Ejura incident, Atik Mohammed commended Mr. Mahama for adding his voice to the calls for calm.
"I think the Ex-President has every right to say there is the need to de-escalate the situation in Ejura. It is not a misplaced call. In fact, it is important that he makes such a call, but of course, usually when politicians make calls like this; it's easy for us to read meanings into these calls . . . If there's a conflict, the first thing to do is to de-escalate the situation, then you move to management and probably resolve the conflict.
"So, if he says we should de-escalate what's happening in Ejura, it's a good call because if we don't de-escalate, maybe tomorrow; another group, probably because of the shooting incident, might be upset and, in that process, could also decide to do something. They might decide to attack a Police station or something," he stated on Peace FM's morning show 'Kokrokoo'.
Atik added; ''...it's important that we de-escalate the situation and I think that call and that of the President's instructions are mutually reinforcing because he also said the Interior Minister and all other security Chiefs should move very swiftly to deal with the situation and also conduct public inquiry into what happened. So, the two, I think are not mutually exclusive. They're actually mutually reinforcing, so it's not a bad call at all.''
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