Political activist sentenced to death
The Tamale High Court presided over by Mr. Justice Laurent Ladzagla Mensah, on Tuesday sentenced to death Yahuza Yakubu for murder.
In addition, the Court imposed a term of 36 years imprisonment with hard labour each on four others for conspiracy to commit murder. They are Majeed Alhassan, Habib Mohammed Dagbana, Shaibu Alhassan and Moro Gundana.
The Court also imposed a term of ten years imprisonment with hard labour on Habib Mohammed Dagbana for causing unlawful harm to two persons namely Kasimu Shaibu Yahuza and Nuhu Fuseini.
Yahuza Yakubu was sentenced to death for the murder of one Abdul Rashid Mohammed.
A seven-member jury comprising six men and a woman found the convicts guilty of the offences for which they were charged.
The Court session was held amidst tight security because of the political nature of the case, which involved youth sympathizers of both the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
The facts of the case as presented by Mr Salia Abul-Quddus, a Principal State Attorney were that on February 17, 2009, the convicts, who were members of the Kandaha Boys, a youth wing of the NPP based in Tamale, armed themselves with sophisticated weapons and attacked butchers at the Central Slaughter House in Tamale who were also sympathizers of the NDC.
The Prosecution said in the course of the attack, Yahuza Yakubu shot Abdul Rashid Mohammed (the deceased) in the jaw and he was rushed to the Tamale Teaching Hospital (TTH) where he died.
It was during the attack that Habib Dagbana also shot Kasimu Shaibu Yahuza in the right leg and Nuhu Fuseini in the right leg and thigh.
Several others sustained gunshot wounds and were all rushed to the TTH for treatment.
The matter was reported to the Police and all the convicts were arrested and after investigations Yahuza Yakubu was charged with one count of murder. All the five convicts were charged with conspiracy to commit murder and Habib Dagbana was charged with two counts of causing unlawful harm.
The convicts were represented by Nana Obiri Boahene, a Sunyani based legal practitioner, who was a Deputy Minister of the Interior under the erstwhile NPP government.
Meanwhile, Nana Obiri Boahene, has expressed disappointment at the ruling and said he would appeal against it.
Source: GNA
I am happy to hear this and for the first time, the court has sentenced die-hard political activists to death and imprisonment. This is to deter foolish activists who commit crimes in the name of politics. What are they to tell their people? Who is behind them now? The rest should learn from this foolishness. Where is Nana and Bawumiya? Can they remove them from jail or take their place in jail. The party will continue to exist without them and they will not compensate them for their foolishness. The children of both Nana and Bawumiya will never do stupid things such as what is sending these foolish activists to jail and death. Why did they do it in the first place? No one should support them. If any one was in Tamale during this period, that person will not support or sympathize with them. How many are standing for the elections in Ghana and the sympathizers of political parties do not want Ghanaians to sleep in peace. Let the law rule the country.