Baba Jamal Bodyguard Shoots Taxi Driver

A slim and tall policeman alleged to be the body guard of the Deputy Eastern Regional Minister, Mohammed Ahmed Baba Jamal, on Friday morning, allegedly shot a young taxi driver at Koforidua.

The bodyguard, whose name could not be immediately ascertained, was angry at 26-year-old taxi driver Abraham Soglo for allegedly driving carelessly and endangering his (body guard’s) life and that of another occupant of a four wheel Toyota Runner.

The vehicle, with registration number GN 674-09, was alleged to be the official car of the deputy regional minister. Reports however say the deputy minister was not on the vehicle when the incident happened.

Soglo, who lives at CMB workshop in Koforidua, opposite the offices of Cocobod with his wife and kid narrated his ordeal to the Daily Guide newspaper.

According to him, on Friday around 9am, he was driving his Opel taxi cab with registration number GR 3261 U from SSNIT Flats at Koforidua to Capital View Hotel at Old Estate. When he got to the main Pentecost School junction, another car crossed him so he tried to avoid it.

All of a sudden, a policeman occupying the front passenger’s seat of a four-wheel drive, coming in the opposite direction, threw a canned drink at him and asked him why he was driving carelessly.

He said he stopped and complained why the policeman acted in that manner since his action could have caused another accident.

He stated that the policeman rather shouted at him: “Go away, go away.”

According to him, he also moved away quietly towards the Capital View Hotel where he was to pick somebody. He said the vehicle on which the policeman was turned and followed him, adding that the policeman gave two warning shots while the vehicle pursued him.

According to the cabbie, when he stopped, the policeman got down with a pistol in his hand and while he (cabbie) tried to get down, the policeman violently shut his door, smashing the window glass.

The policeman repeatedly opened and banged the cab’s door as he complained about his alleged careless driving.Soglo said the pistol, in the process, went off and hit him in his groin. According to him, the policeman, after shooting him, later apologized for his behavior. He stated that the policeman and the driver took him to the regional hospital where he was given some injection.“The doctor said I will have to wait for the next three months for an operation to be performed on me and I am in serious pains.”

He said since the incident happened, no one had visited him apart from the driver of the four-wheel drive allegedly belonging to Baba Jamal.He noted that even though his car owner had already reported the incident to the police, he (Soglo) would lodge an official complaint today or tomorrow.

This paper learnt that the alleged body guard reported the incident himself to the municipal police and the matter is under investigation.

Later in the day, Soglo said somebody called him and asked him not to give any information to the media and that they would like to settle the issue out of the prying eyes and lenses of the media since the vehicle on which the policeman was traveling was a deputy Minister’s and the policeman, his bodyguard.

It has however been established that at the time of the incident, Baba Jamal was in Accra attending to some business. Though he was in Accra, when Daily Guide contacted him, Baba said the taxi driver was engaged in somewhat reckless driving. He denied knowledge of his bodyguard having been involved in any shooting incident.

Considering the fact that he was not on the vehicle at the time of the incident, Jamal did not understand why the journalist called him to ascertain whether or not he was aware of any such incident. “I was not even in the car. I didn’t even know where the incident happened. My bodyguard is a different personality. If there has been a problem, why do you call me?” he asked, and added, “Sometimes, I wonder the type of journalism you people do.”

He continued, “I was not there, so why do you call me at all. So I think you should rather go to the people involved in the incident and deal with them directly.”

Baba Jamal said he had been inundated with calls, with people asking him what he described as unnecessary questions, though they all knew he was nowhere near the incident.

“I was even called by the police to be informed that this is what has happened and that the case has been reported and I said fine, I want the police to do their work. I am not part of it,” he said.