A joint security council, comprising the Savannah Regional and Central Gonja District Councils, has condemned the killing of two people, a mobile money vendor, Majeed Mahama, and a passerby, Rashid Gbenchilige, and the subsequent attacks and burning of the Fulbe community at Damongo Junction in the Central Gonja District of the Savannah Region.
The councils, led by Savannah Regional Minister Salisu Be-Awuribe, described the incidents in Gbeniyiri (Sawla-Tuna-Kalba District) and Damongo Junction as criminal and vowed to bring all perpetrators to justice.
“I want to assure you that for those who came and destroyed your properties, if we can get information about them, we will go after them, irrespective of their tribe or political affiliation. We will hunt them down so the law can take its course,” Mr Be-Awuribe said.
He added, “We shall not tolerate anyone who commits a crime. By law, it is the highest offense to take a human life. Security agencies are investigating to identify the perpetrators who shot and killed the two innocent people.
“All of us, whether Fulbe, Gonja, Dagomba, or others, have a responsibility to provide any information, no matter how small, to the security agencies so they can piece it together and identify the culprits.”
The chairmen of the two councils also discouraged “blanket generalizations” of criminal activity in the region, emphasising that such assumptions only inflict unjustified pain on innocent people.
Mr Be-Awuribe made these remarks while leading a high-powered delegation of security officials to Damongo Junction to attend the three-day Islamic funeral prayers for the late Majeed Mahama and to assess the destruction in the Fulbe community.
Savannah Regional Police Commander, DCOP David Amoako, assured residents that the deployment of specialist personnel by the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Christian Tetteh Yuhonu is aimed at ensuring that those responsible do not escape justice.
“I plead with you to have faith in us. The IGP has deployed additional officers to the region so that we can work together to investigate and arrest all those involved in the robberies and house burnings. They are in the region and will ensure the job is done properly,” DCOP Amoako stated.
It will be recalled that on Sunday, March 8, a group of alleged armed robbers, seven men and a woman, invaded Damongo Junction at around 7 p.m., robbing and killing a mobile money vendor and a passerby.
In retaliation, some residents attacked and burned down houses belonging to the Fulbe, displacing several families.
Officials from the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) reported that over 400 people from approximately 30 houses have been displaced and require urgent assistance.
JoyNews checks in the affected communities, and information from the Savannah Regional Police Command indicates that, over a three-week period, eight people have been shot and killed in the region.
The first two casualties involved men returning from the Buipe livestock market, one was killed in Poro, and a week later, another suffered the same fate in Gbeniyiri.
These deaths, particularly the second, allegedly triggered the killing of four others in the bush by unidentified individuals.
Five additional victims, including a seven-year-old boy, were injured in robbery-related incidents, alongside the two killed at Damongo Junction.
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