General News of Friday, 12 November 2010

Source: Daily Guide

Amina Is Not Jake’s Girl

FATI MOHAMMED, the mother of Amina Mohammed, the lady at the centre of the mass rape story on a Tamale-bound bus at Kubiase near Ejisu, has denied rumours circulating in Ashaiman and Tema that Amina is a daughter of the chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey.

Speaking to DAILY GUIDE in her family home in Ashaiman, Madam Fati expressed surprise that certain people who did not even know her daughter would go to the extent of mentioning her as a daughter of the NPP guru.

“I just could not believe it when a relation who returned from Tema mentioned to me that it was being said everywhere that Amina is Jake’s daughter, hence the reason why the NPP were supporting her. I had earlier on heard a few people say that but did not take it serious until just two days ago when my own relation came over to my place to narrate to me how some people in Tema were discussing my daughter and even mentioned her as one of Jake’s daughters,” Madam Fati remarked.

She stated that her family and that of Mr. Obetsebi-Lamptey were two separate families and had never related, adding that she and her children had never met the man before.

She regretted the political twist some persons were giving to the mass rape story and urged the public to allow the police to investigate the incident which, according to her, did happened. She noted that she had stopped listening to radio for some time because the way some sections of the public who spoke on some of the radio stations or those who called into discussion programmes handled the issue was not the best.

“To be honest with you, I have decided that I will not speak on this issue again since it is now in court. It is the same with my daughter. As you may be aware, she has gone through a lot within the past few days and should be left alone to rest,” Madam Fati stated.

She narrated that she and children were not so particular about politics and could not believe that some persons including women who were supposed to role models for younger women in the country attacked her daughter over her narration.

“I am disappointed in some of these women who continue to castigate my daughter. I sometimes ask if some of them have children of their own,” Amina’s mother said.

She mentioned that her daughter would be vindicated at the end of it because, according to her, what Amina said was true.

“Just a few days ago, we were all told how some armed robbers who attacked a bus almost forced them to have sex until a female passenger who understood the language the said robbers spoke pleaded with them to spare them, which they complied,” Madam Fati pointed out.

Amina, who is currently standing trial at a circuit court in Accra, had some few weeks ago narrated on a Tema-based radio station that she and other passengers were attacked on their way to Tamale by some armed robbers who forced the men on the bus to rape the female passengers at gunpoint. She further alleged that a father was forced at gunpoint to have sex with his biological 14-year-old daughter Although Amina has pleaded not guilty to the charge of causing fear and panic, the court has granted her bail and has adjourned hearing to November 15, 22 and 23 for definite hearing.