DS & OTHERS*

*FOOL GOV’T*

*As They Sit On Vital Evidence On Mobila’s Murder *

By Larry-Alans Dogbey

The Herald has chanced upon a mind-blowing information suggesting that the army wing of the Ghana Armed Forces is keeping a very vital evidence from the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mrs. Betty Mould Iddrisu in nailing the real killers of the late Alhaji Issah Mobila who was murdered on December 9, 2004 while in military custody in the northern regional capital, Tamale.

Those mentioned to be sitting on the evidence which is privy to the Military High Command, led by the Chief of Defense Staff (CDS), Major-General Peter Augustine Blay, include Lt. Col. I.N. Ayi Aryeetey, Major. AY Nsiah, Dr. Fred Attipoe, Major J. Eshun and Lt. Col. Okine. All five, were on the Board of Inquiry (BOI) which investigated the death of Alhaji Mobila.

The four army officers and a civilian medical doctor, our military source revealed, received the confessions of the real killers namely; Private Seth Goka, Corporal Nuokyi Philip and Corporal Yaw Appiah at the premises of the Airborne Force Unit, popularly called Barwah Barracks in Tamale, on February 8, 2005.

But under very bizarre circumstances, Corporal Philip Nuokyi, who was earlier arrested and put in military custody over the killing, had his name replaced with Private Eric Modzaka, who was exonerated by the BOI led Lt. Col. Aryeetey with Major. Nsiah, Dr. Fred Attipoe, Major Eshun and Lt. Col. Okine, who is with the Directorate of Legal Service at Burma Camp, as members.

Presently, it is only Corporal Yaw Appiah, who is on trial while Corporal Seth Goka is on the run and believed to be hiding in Togo, where his mother hails (he was borne to Ghanaian father from a village near Akatsi, in the Volta Region).

It is not yet clear why the BOI substituted Corporal Nuokyi Philip’s name for Private Eric Modzaka, who has insisted he was not part of those who gruesomely tortured Issah Mobila to death. Indeed, Corporal Nuokyi Philip was arrested and put in military custody but released under a very strange circumstance.

Both Corporal Yaw Appiah and Private Seth Goka gave out Corporal Nuokyi Philip’s name to the BOI as a member of the torture squad and disclosed that although he was off duty at the time Alhaji Mobila was handed over to the military, he stormed the guardroom from nowhere and keenly took part in the beatings which resulted in broken ribs, brain damage, collapse of his left lung, haemothorax and severe multiple abrasions on various part of Mobila’s body.

Corporal Nuokyi Philip, according to The Herald’s information, is presently a free man, still in uniform in Tamale and going about his military duties at the Kamina Barracks, where he has been put in-charge of the Arms Store, where the soldiers keep their weapons.

Additional information picked on Corporal Nuokyi Philip, a Dagarti, is that he is preparing to be sent on a Peacekeeping Mission in war-torn Chad sometime next month.

Insiders told The Herald that as far back as 2007, a detailed petition was sent to the then Forces Sergeant Major, Chief Warrant Officer I James Cole by Private Eric Modzaka saying he is being prosecuted for no crime committed. However, the Military High Command did not act.

Sometime last year, Private Eric Modzaka is said to have again petitioned the new Forces Sergeant Major, Chief Warrant Officer I Daniel Yaw Adu and copied the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) but again nothing happened, although the current Military High Command is aware of the development but has allowed Mrs. Betty Mould Iddrisu, the A.G. and Minister of Justice to be pursuing the case in court with alacrity.

This paper’s information is that Private Seth Goka was told to flee the country and avoid prosecution. This was after he had threatened to spill the bean on the murder hence he was convinced to runaway to save the heads of some big men.

Private Seth Goka’s vociferous Togolese mother is also said to have threatened the military High to go public with what her son has told her should they dare put him on trial and jailed.

This paper last week Monday revealed the complicity of a top army officer in the brutal torture and murder of CPP’s Northern Regional Chairman, Alhaji Mobila in December 2004. However, he is not one of the suspects on trial for the murder and this has left some soldiers at the Kamina Barracks in Tamale who are aware of his role with lingering questions.

Lt. Col. William Omane Agyekum, former Commanding Officer (CO) of the Sixth Infantry Battalion at Tamale in the Northern Region, is alleged to have received orders from the Office of the then Vice President Aliu Mahama to fetch and detain Alhaji Issah Mobila. Military sources say he carried out the orders and shortly thereafter, Alhaji Mobila was reported dead.

Lt. Col. Omane Agyekum’s Unit desperately attempted to cover up the murder by creating the impression that Alhaji Mobila fell, collapsed and died in a military guardroom. But military sources say Lt. Col. Omane Agyekum, upon discovering that his boys had “roughed” Mobila up, quickly ordered the torture squad to take him to the Tamale Medical Reception Centre for the military and log his name as a patient.

The soldiers forced the only nurse on duty at the time to register Mobila into the Admissions and Discharge Book, and dumped the almost-dead body in the facility.

However, a civilian medical doctor who was in-charge of the facility, Dr. Fred Attipoe got extremely furious about the machinations of the unit commander, and called him to the facility. Hours later, Lt. Col. Omane Agyekum and his adjutant stormed the facility and took away the corpse together with the Admissions and Discharge Book.

The book was later returned but without the page where Issa Mobila’s name was written.

Some military officers who claim knowledge of the incidents that led to the murder told this reporter that even if Lt. Col. Omane Agyekum played no part in the murder, he must bear ultimate responsibility for the actions of his boys and also face prosecution because he headed the unit that is alleged to have tortured Issah Mobila to death.

Lt. Col. Omane Agyekum is rather enjoying a normal life and currently at Burma Camp as Deputy Director in the Office of the Director of Civilian Establishments in Accra.

Shortly after the barbaric incident, a ceremony was hurriedly organized, and Lt. Col. Omane Agyekum quickly made to hand over to one Lt. Col. Aphour, after which he was whisked away to a peacekeeping operation to cool off. Later, he was brought down to Teshie Staff College, whilst the three soldiers were left in a military guardroom.