Statement: Nobody Died As A Result of Nana Addo's Entry into Tamale

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) is totally shocked at news circulating in some sections of the media, attributed to the Chief Executive of the Tamale Teaching Hospital, Dr. Ken Sagoe that, two people died as a result of Nana Akufo-Addo’s grand entry into Tamale on Saturday.

The party considers this story as a total fabrication meant to equalise what happened when another presidential candidate arrived in Tamale. Ghana Police Service had their men with us throughout the procession through the principal streets of the capital but did not notice such incident and it has to the take the Chief Executive of the Hospital whose political affiliation is well known, to report such story to the media. It beats our minds why the chief executive officer of the Teaching Hospital did not provide names of those two persons who died and when they were buried since the burial could not have taken place so quickly. The presidential candidate was met at Adubiyili at about 4:15pm and the procession ended at the Hotel at about 7:00pm, the question we ask is, when did the deaths occur and when were they buried?

The information is false. Party checks with the Northern Regional Commander of the Motor Transport and Traffic Unit (MTTU), Superintendent Godwin Blewushie Cashman, has confirmed that nobody died in connection with Nana Addo’s entry into Tamale. The running mate to Nana Addo, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, visited the Tamale Teaching Hospital to sympathise with two people who got injured during the welcome party. There were no deaths. We are therefore calling on the Ghana Police to request an official report from the Teaching Hospital to explain why the bodies were released to the families without going through the legitimate process of taking a police report and an autopsy if indeed there were such deaths.

The party’s checks also revealed that in the early hours of the morning at about 3:00am two gentlemen, Abass Sualisu a tailor of Hse No. I 38 Poloafong and one Ganiyu from Choggu on separate motorbikes crashed into each other at Kanvili a suburb of Tamale, on their return from SALAH JAMS organised at the Discovery Hotel. Both gentlemen are known NDC sympathisers and our procession did not go anywhere around Kanvili. The two bodies were buried before Nana Akufo-Addo arrived in Tamale.

The Party can however confirm that on Saturday, thousands of enthusiastic supporters and admirers gave Nana Addo a grand welcome on his arrival into the city of Tamale ahead of Tuesday’s Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) Presidential Debate.

The NPP is happy to say, that, in spite of the huge numbers that happily ushered our leader into Tamale, with most of them riding on motorbikes and running into each other sometimes, no life was lost. A few of these energetic supporters sustained some degrees of injury and have since been treated and discharged from hospital.

It is our hope, that in line with the ethics of the profession, journalists will endeavour to provide the Ghanaian people with accurate reportage by cross checking from the relevant agencies. In this case, a telephone call to the Regional MTTU boss would have saved the media houses from putting out this obvious lie.
Thank you.