A Tamale High Court has sentenced an activist of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Yahuza Yakubu, to death by hanging.
The court, presided over by His Lordship Justice L L Mensah, also sentenced four others; Abibu Dagbana, Majeed Alhassan, Alhassan Sayibu and Imoro Gundaana to 36 years imprisonment each.
The decision was taken by a seven-member jury - six men and one woman - who charged the accused persons for conspiracy to murder.
Yahuza Yakubu was found guilty of murder and conspiracy to murder.
The court also imposed a term of 10years imprisonment in hard labour on Habib Dagbana for causing unlawful harm to two persons namely Kasimu Shaibu Yahuza and Nuhu Fuseini.
The convicted persons were represented by a team of lawyers led by Lawyer Nana Obiri Boahene and Lawyer Mohammed Shaibu Abdulai (Raw).
Supporters of the two largest parties in the country clashed in front of the old butchers� house at the Tamale Central Market on February 17, 2009 after rising tensions boiled over. The accused persons and others at large were allegedly involved in sporadic shootings on that fateful day, which led to the death of one Abdul Rashid Mohammed with several others sustaining serious gunshot wounds.
According to reports, in the course of the clash, 27 houses were burnt, vehicles, motorbikes and other valuables belonging to NPP members in Gumbihini, Choggu and other surrounding communities in the Tamale metropolis were also destroyed.
The five were subsequently arrested and arraigned before court, but not before some political drama.
The NPP held series of press conferences and protest marches following their arrest.
Principal State Attorney, Salia Abdul-Quddus, who presented the facts of the case, told the court that on the February 17, 2009, the convicts who were members of the Kandaha Boys, a youth wing of the NPP based in Tamale, armed themselves with sophisticated weapons and attacked the butchers at the Central Slaughter House in Tamale who are also sympathisers of the NDC.
The Prosecution said in the course of the attack, Yahuza Yakubu shot Abdul Rashid Mohammed (the deceased) in the jaw and he was rushed to the Tamale Teaching Hospital where he died.
It was during the attack that Habib Dagbana also shot Kasimu Shaibu Yahuza in the right leg and Nuhu Fuseini in the right leg and thigh.
The matter was reported to the Police and all the convicts were arrested and after further investigations Yahuza Yakubu was charged with the offence.
All the five convicts were charged with conspiracy to commit murder and Habib Dagbana was charged with two counts of causing unlawful harm.
Protests And Press conferences
On August 23, 2011, then National Youth Organizer of the NPP, Anthony Abayifa Karbo called for the immediate release of five of the party�s youth activists who have been detained almost three years down the line as a result of a political clash between NPP and NDC supporters in Tamale, February 17, 2009.
He claimed the detainees had been languishing in the Tamale Prisons without any preferred charges against them and challenged then President John Evans Atta Mills to walk his talk as �Father for all� by ensuring the release of those detainees who in his own words have not committed any crime.
Anthony Abayifa Karbo made the call at a press briefing in Tamale as part of his three days working visit to the northern region meant to draw a strategy that will maximize the NPP�s votes in the three northern regions during the upcoming 2012 elections.
�It is a fact that the fundamental human rights of our brothers have been infringed upon and we are no longer going to sit unconcerned for them to be used as sacrificial lambs for mere political rhetorics,� he charged.
Later on in the same year (2011), a youth group belonging to the NPP in Tamale called the Concerned Elephants Youth Association (CEYA), threatened to embark on a nationwide demonstration in protest over the continued detention of the five.
The group described as unconstitutional, the detention and snail-paced trial of Yahuza Yakubu, Abibu Dagbana, Majeed Alhassan, Alhassan Sayibu and Imoro Gundaana who had been in prison custody and were standing trial since 2009.
The Concerned Elephants Youth Association also gave government a five day ultimatum to impress upon the Attorney General�s Department to transfer the case to an Accra Fast Track High Court for speedy trial.
�It is a fact that the fundamental human rights of our brothers have been infringed upon and we are no longer going to sit unconcerned for them to be used as sacrificial lambs for mere political gains� Harunah Rashid, Secretary of the Association, warned at a news conference in Tamale.
He maintained that the then Mills-Mahama NDC administration will face a series of nationwide demonstrations if the five day ultimatum given for the case to be transferred to an Accra Fast Track Court elapses without a positive response.
He asserted that government was afraid to transfer the case to Accra because of the high profile cases it has lost in the courts, the latest being the Yaa-Naa Yakubu Andani II murder case.
Harunah Rashid said the group members were convinced that the continued detention of their five �innocent brothers� formed part of the NDC government's calculated attempt to intimidate and put fear in the NPP youth ahead of the 2012 general elections.
�During the last court hearing, we were compelled to believe that the continuous detention of those five innocent gentlemen of our party formed part of the ruling NDC government�s calculated attempts to silence our youth in Tamale and put fear in some of us before the 2012 general elections� he alleged.
The group, had earlier on on Tuesday September 28, 2010 defied a heavy downpour to hit some principal streets in Tamale in a massive demonstration. At the end of that particular demonstration, they presented a petition to the northern regional minister to be forwarded to President J.EA Mills. But the CEYA claimed it had not been given the needed attention.
Source: Kwabena Ntow/FillaFM and Peacefmonline.com/Ghana
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