The family of late Lance Corporal Adu Teiko have expressed their displeasure at former President John Mahama for showing a video of their son’s funeral to the diplomatic community portraying police officers at the funeral as the masked gunmen who shot at, and injured some 16 members of the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) at La-Bawaleshie during the 31 January 2019 by-election.
According to family, they are “shocked” that Mr Mahama will “attempt to use the video to score cheap political points during his recent meeting with some diplomats.”
Mr Mahama, who screened the video to the diplomatic corps at a hotel, said: “This is just a band of hoodlums put in uniforms and deployed for a purpose. The Ghana Police Service and other security personnel do not wear earrings. I could see some of them wearing earrings. This happened before the election, so, it means that they have been camped already in preparation for the election”.
But in a statement, the family of late Lance Corporal Teiko said the police SWAT team dancing to “Jamma” songs were colleagues of their late son and not “NPP hoodlums dressed in police SWAT uniform at the funeral of Hon. Emmanuel Agyarko, who were later used to perpetuate violence at the Ayawaso by-election,” as claimed by Mr Mahama.
“First of all, the video was not shot at Agyarko’s funeral but at the funeral of our son, Lance Corporal Adu Teiko, who was shot to death on July 11, 2018, at Poano-Manso.
“Additionally, we wish to state that the men who were dancing to the jamma songs were indeed real police officers belonging specifically to the Kumasi Buffalo Unit, and are not members of any party vigilante force as president John Mahama wanted Ghanaians and the diplomats to believe,” the family stressed.
The family said they are “appalled by the conduct of the former president, who is expected to be a statesman.”
They have therefore called on Mr Mahama to desist from “championing such falsehood and fabrication on the alter of political expediency. Certainly, this is not how we want to be reminded of the painful killing of our son, in line of duty.”
The family have further called on Mr Mahama to apologise to them and to the diplomats “whom he sought to mislead, as well as to the Ghanaian people for this unstatesmanlike conduct.”
Source: Ghana/ClassFMonline.com
