The President of the Ghana Pentecostal Council, Apostle Dr Michael Kwabena Ntumy, is recovering from machete wounds inflicted on him by unidentified assassins. Ntumy was attacked last week at his North Ridge residence in Accra.

Sources at the Accra Regional Police, who are searching for the assailants, said two men on motorbike pounced on Dr Ntumy, who is also the Chairman of the Church Of Pentecost, in front of his residence and inflicted deep cutlass wounds on his left hand.

He was rushed to the Ridge Hospital in Accra where he was treated and discharged.

Apostle Ntumy said that he was with three of his children when the incident occurred in front of his house at about 7 p.m. that day.

He said due to his tight official schedule, which sometimes ends as late as 11 p.m., whenever he returned home earlier; he usually took his children on a walk around the neighbourhood.

The Apostle said it was after one such walk with three of his children that the two men attacked him just a few metres away from the main gate of his residence, which is directly opposite the Accra High School and adjacent to the former German Embassy at North Ridge.

He indicated that by then his two older children aged 19 and 11 had already entered the house leaving him behind with the nine-year old and just as they were about to enter they heard the sound of a motorbike.

The Apostle said thinking that they had missed their way and might be looking for assistance, he stopped. A few metres to where he was standing, one of the men jumped down and raised a machete in an attempt to strike his head.

He said by then, he was holding a Nokia 9500 mobile phone in his left hand so he raised it to block the machete and prevent it from hitting his head.

He said the machete hit the phone and it exploded like the sound of a rifle. He then fell to the ground and slipped into the gutter in front of the house.

His screams attracted the security man on duty at the German Embassy and his own security man who was then inside the house.

All this while, the Apostle said, the one on the motorbike was waiting. On seeing the two men approaching, the one wielding the machete jumped onto the bike and they sped off.

He was taken to the Ridge Hospital where the wound on his left hand was stitched. Upon his discharge from hospital, he reported the case to the Nima Police.

Asked whether he knew of anybody who might want to hurt him, he said as far as he was concerned, he had not had any problem with anybody but he had cause to believe that it was an attempt on his life.

He said “I have no problem with my church members or its affiliates across the country. Besides, the Pentecostal Council has over 220 different charismatic and Pentecostal churches under it and so far, they are all satisfied with my work”.

Apostle Dr Ntumy is also the National President of the Bible Society of Ghana, member of the Ghana AIDS Commission and a Companion of the Order of the Volta, which was conferred on him recently by President Kufuor.