I sanctioned military deployment to Ejura – Ashanti Regional minister

The Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei-Mensah, has admitted he deployed security officers to Ejura Sekyeredumase in the Ashanti region following protests by some civilians.

Speaking on the Kasapa Morning Show, Mr Osei Mensah said his decision to deploy men to the town was based on intelligence gathered that the youth had targeted to set ablaze the police station and other installations in the town.

“There are several questions that: who really ordered the soldiers to go there? I ordered them to go there. I requested the military to offer us support, as head of the Regional Security Council.

“I got intelligence that they [youth] said after the burial of Kaaka, they will move and burn the police station and burn to death two persons who the police are keeping in custody in connection with the death of Kaaka. So, I realized that wouldn’t help and truly they were going to do that," he explained.

President Akufo-Ado on Wednesday, June 30 ordered Interior Minister Ambrose Dery to conduct a Public Inquiry into the circumstances that led to the Ejura killings.

Two people on Tuesday were shot dead while six others sustained varying degrees of injuries at Ejura after security officers opened fire on angry youth protesting the murder of social activist Muhammed Ibrahim popularly known as Kaaka.

This comes after an activist of the #FixTheCountry movement, Ibrahim Mohammed, alias Kaaka was killed by unknown assailants for his advocacy at Ejura Sekyeredumase.

He is said to have had his head clubbed in his home Friday night by the assailants until he became unconscious and was rushed to the Ejura Government Hospital. He was later transferred to the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi where he died Monday afternoon.