The Wa Municipal Chief Executive, Tahiru Issahaku Moomin is not convinced by explanations given by the anti-robbery unit of the Upper West Regional Police Command for the killing of a resident of Dondoli, a suburb of Wa.
The deceased, Abubakar Shahban is reported to have been killed by the police anti-robbery taskforce over his alleged connection to a robbery gang that has been operating within Wa and its environs.
Mr. Moomin who also grew up in the Dondoli community and knows the deceased doubted the explanations of the police and called for an independent committee to be established to further probe the murder.
Speaking on Eyewitness News on Citi FM, Mr. Moomin said it will be hard for him to wholesomely take the police story as the truth without an independent inquiry.
“Until further evidence comes to suggest that he is an armed robber, I will hold on to my opinion as someone who knows the deceased. We have gathered our opinion at the MUSEC level and we are forwarding the same to the Regional Security Council for further deliberations because we do not have jurisdiction over the anti-robbery unit so we are referring the issue to the Regional Security Council for further consideration but we are also requesting that an independent body be constituted to conduct independent investigations into the matter.
“We sat on the matter and called the police and the family of the deceased to a meeting and they both gave different reports and we concluded that we have to forward our report to the Regional Security Council and that is what we have done but we will ask that an independent body be commissioned to further probe the killing.”
Family of the deceased said he left home on March 8 at about 8:00 pm to visit a friend but did not return until they were informed of his murder on March 9.
Some residents of Wa on Friday besieged the Regional Coordinating Council and demanded the release of the remains of the deceased and demanded he is cleared of the robbery allegations.
