I Saw Murdered Policeman's Kidnappers

A man who claims to have been at the scene of the clash between rioting Anlo youths and the police has exclusively told The Enquirer newspaper that he saw the kidnappers of the murdered police officer, Constable Moses Debah and witnessed events leading to the his capture.

According to this eye witness, he also saw a juju kin pin who spiritually disarmed the rampaging police officer and grabbed his AK 47 which is now being sought after by the police as part of investigations leading to the murder of the officer.

The eye witness told The Enquirer reporters in the Volta Region that he was prepared to appear before a public board of enquiry to testify into circumstances that led to the kidnapping Constable Debah. Narrating the incident to The Enquirer, the man said the kidnapping occurred when the police Constable surprisingly opened fire into a crowd, gunning down a lady and two men who were among a group of youth drumming and dancing in front of a shrine next to the Awadada Palace, in protest of a visit to the shrine by Francis Nyonyo Agboada, a.k.a Togbui Sri, last Thursday.

The eyewitness said when the trigger happy Constable took down the first three casualties, he saw a young man about 18 years with a lot of talismans around his waste step in front of him and used his body to spiritually receive the bullets.This young man with talisman, according to this eyewitness incanted some words which tamed the Constable who voluntarily handed over his AK 47 assault rifle and himself over to the angry youth who led him away from the scene. He said he later heard that the officer was found in the Keta Lagoon dead the following day. He did not witness what happened after he was led away from the scene of the shooting.

When the remains of the cop was found, the Deputy Volta Regional Commander, ACP Hamidu Mahama said he had a rope around his neck and a very deep cut at the back of his head with blood oozing profusely from it. Constable Debah's colleague police officers were said to have fled the scene after he was abducted by the Anloga youth perhaps for fear of being kidnapped also. The eye witness whom The Enquirer has chosen to identify only with his first name, Francis, said he believes that the Police Constable was spiritually overpowered by the 18-year-old boy who has since fled Anloga to seek asylum elsewhere.

Francis insisted that he was ready to appear before an independent board of enquiry into the disturbance to relate whatever he personally saw on the day particularly concerning police atrocities against the youth. Meanwhile, two human rights organizations, the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) and the Legal Resources Centre (LRC), last Monday visited the area on a fact finding mission to Anloga, Keta and Atorkor to determine the human rights violations which occurred as a result of the Anlo chieftaincy dispute. The visit was led by two human rights lawyers, Nana Oye Lithur (CHRI) and Tuinese Edward Amuzu (LRC). They intend addressing a press conference tomorrow to put across their findings.Like the Yendi chieftaincy crisis in the Northern Region few years ago, CHRI and LRC is likely to call on the government to set up a board of enquiry to investigate the Anlo chieftaincy unrest.