Police chase Flagstaff House assault suspects

The Interior Minister, Mr Ambrose Dery, has stated that government did not give authorization to the January 9, 2017 Flagstaff House assault.

Some footage taken by CCTV cameras at the seat of government on January 9, 2017 – President Akufo-Addo’s first day in office – showed supposed members of the vigilante group (Invincible Forces) chasing ASP Nanka Bruce as he drove out of the Flagstaff House.

The video showed an assault on ASP Bruce Nanka at the Flagstaff House, which went viral on social media. ASP Nii Nanka Bruce was the Director in charge of the VVIP at the Flagstaff House during the Mahama era.

A gentleman succeeded in accosting ASP Nanka and attempted to seize his vehicle, but the intervention of other security personnel saved the situation.

ASP Bruce, who was a guard at the Flagstaff House during former president John Mahama’s tenure, lodged a complaint with the police administration about the assault, but later withdrew it.

The issue, however, became an issue for discussion, with politicians pointing accusing fingers to the ruling government as masterminding the operation.

But on the floor of Parliament yesterday, the Minister for the Interior, Ambrose Dery, debunked the allegations, stating that the Nana Akufo-Addo-led government had no hand in the assault.

His position was based on a question posed to him by the Member of Parliament (MP) for Kumbungu, Ras Mubarak, who wanted to know whether the Minister was aware that a police officer, ASP Nanka Bruce, was assaulted, and measures he had taken over the issue.

The Minister, in answering the question, said the police had intensified efforts in arresting the suspects who assaulted the officer.

One of the suspects, he noted, has been identified as Mumuni Jabil, whose picture was published in the Daily Guide Newspaper on March 18, 2017, with same published on Ghanaweb on March 16, 2017.

“The matter is currently under investigation by the Police/CID, and efforts are being made to get the suspects arrested.

The police, in an effort to arrest the suspects, have, among others, published the picture of Mumuni Jabil in the 18th March 2017 edition of the Daily Guide newspaper.

The same story was also published on Ghanaweb on 16th March, 2017.”  An Accra Circuit Court, he added, has also issued a warrant for the arrest of Mumuni Jabil.”

He was very confident that once Mumuni Jabil is arrested, he will assist the law enforcement agencies to get his accomplices arrested.

Ras Mubarak also wanted to know whether the police had carried out investigations into the shooting of Abdul Ganiu Abdul Rahman, by Lance Corporal Frederick Gyan at Dalun in the Kumbungu Constituency, and if so, what action had been taken in that regard.

The Minister responded that, “the case is still under investigation by the Tamale Regional Criminal Investigation Department.”

The unfortunate shooting incident occurred on December 26, 2016, following a report made by the Kumbungu District Assembly to the police of an unauthorised barrier on the road between Kumbungu and Dalun, where a group of persons were extorting monies from drivers winning sand at the riverbank.

In the process of arresting the suspects, which was fiercely resisted, Abdul Ganiu Abdul Rahman, aged 18, who was standing at a distance, was hit by a bullet suspected to have been fired by the police. 

“The victim was treated and discharged on 5th January, 2017 from hospital,” the Minister