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Security for traveling clubs now!
We have heard horrifying stories about armed robbers in Ghana attack passengers in the middle of their journeys.
It is not one, two or three. It happens a couple of times in a year with passengers left injured, maimed, brutalised and traumatised.
Sadly, now, the robbers have extended their dreadful operations to footballers – charging them down on the road after football matches.
We have had a number of such incidents of late, and it is now increasingly becoming tormenting!
The latest one on our hand is the attack on Tamale-based FC Savannah Ladies when they were traveling for a Women’s Premier League Matchweek 14 game against Dreamz Ladies FC at the Bantama Astro pitch on Saturday.
According to reports, the robbers collected all the monies of the players and thumped them with canes on top. The torture left the team physiotherapist with injury to the knee and had to be rushed to hospital. Heartily, no tragedy – as regards death, was recorded.
Only last month (March 21), Ghana Premier League (GPL) side AshantiGold SC went through similar terror on their way back to Kumasi after their game against Hearts of Oak in the GPL on Sunday evening. After the game, the team opted to travel in the night back home to Obuasi in the Ashanti Region. Some officials of Hearts, we were told, impressed on the AshGold team to spend the night in Accra and leave the following day. It fell on deaf ears.
According to a report on the Twitter page of the club, the team’s bus was attacked at Assin Endwa as armed robbers shot at the bus. Fortunately, gunshots to the front bulletproof glass could not go through as the driver of the bus managed to drive the team and all onboard to safety.
Last year, too, Ghana Women’s Premier League side Pearl Pia Ladies narrowly escaped a robbery attack after their team bus was shot at in the late hours of Monday, December 21.
The incident was said to have occurred at Yapei, a small town in the Central Gonja District, a district in the Savannah Region of northern Ghana.
The Pearl Pia Ladies were heading to Tamale after a league match against Ampem Darkoa Ladies. The three assailants tried stopping the team bus but the driver upon sensing danger sprinted on top gear.
Disappointed, they fired several gun shots at the bus, but no injuries or deaths were recorded from the atrocious blitz.
Whilst we call on the relevant authorities to beef up security on our highways to steer clear of such incidents, we also think it is incumbent on clubs to carry or engage their own security – especially when they are traveling in the night.
Alternatively, the clubs are hereby advised to avoid night travels altogether. However, if they think they must embark on the trip in the night at all cost, then it would be prudent they engage the security services or seek security advice before making trips.
However, it would also not be out of place if the clubs liaise with the Ghana FA and the Ghana Police Service (GPS) in finding ways of providing consummate security support to teams when they travel across the country.
For now, we can only thank heavens that there have not been any serious casualties in the various scary situations that we have recorded over the years.
However, let us act now before it is too late. We might not be fortunate tomorrow when those muggers strike again.
PlainTalk With John Vigah
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Focus on more pressing issues like Galamsey, not hate speech – Ellen Ama Daaku to Mahama
An aide to former Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia,Ellen Ama Daaku has advised President John Dramani Mahama to shift his attention from social media hate speech to more urgent national issues such as illegal mining.
Speaking in an interview, she noted that the President’s recent comments about tracking the IP addresses of people who spread hate speech were unnecessary.
According to her, President Mahama must first define what he considers to be hate speech before seeking to punish people for it.
Ms. Daaku argued that the President himself had benefitted from hate speech and social media attacks in the past when he was in opposition.
She said even during his time in government, he described his opponents and their tribesmen in unpalatable terms, which later drew complaints from former President Nana Akufo-Addo to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference.
She stressed that harsh criticism of leaders on social media should not automatically be considered hate speech, adding that former leaders, including former President Nana Akufo-Addo had all been subjected to it.
“He is only feeling what Nana Akufo-Addo went through for eight years,” she remarked.
While acknowledging the need to regulate misconduct online, Ms. Daaku insisted that going after social media activists should not be a priority.
She noted that many political activists, including herself, had been insulted and attacked online but never called for arrests.
She concluded that President Mahama should focus his energy on solving pressing problems such as galamsey and the economy instead of concentrating on critics on social media.
By: Jacob Aggrey
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Prof Alidu Seidu files nomination for Tamale Central seat
The newly elected parliamentary candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for Tamale Central, Prof Alidu Seidu, has submitted his nomination forms to the Electoral Commission.
As of 10:00 a.m. today, he was the only person who had filed to contest the seat.
Nomination of candidates will close at the end of the day.
Associate Professor and Head of the Political Science Department at the University of Ghana Legon, Prof. Alidu Seidu won the National Democratic Congress (NDC) parliamentary primaries in the Tamale Central constituency with a landslide victory.
The elections, supervised by the party’s Elections and IT Directorate in the Northern Region, saw Prof. Seidu poll 840 votes out of the total valid ballots cast.
His closest contender, Lawyer Hanan Gundadow Abdul-Rahaman, secured 536 votes.
The other aspirants could not make significant gains, with Dr. Seidu Fiter obtaining 44 votes, Aliu Abdul-Hamid 23 votes, and the rest recording fewer than 10 votes each.
In all, 1,500 ballots were cast, with 6 ballots rejected and 7 spoilt ballots recorded.
The results were signed and declared by Dr. Arnold Mashud Abukari, NDC Northern Regional Director of Elections and IT.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) held parliamentary primaries in Tamale Central to choose a candidate for the upcoming by-election following the death of the sitting Member of Parliament, Dr. Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed. Dr. Mohammed, who also served as Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, tragically died in a military helicopter crash in the Adansi Akrofuom District on August 6, 2025, alongside seven others.
His passing left the Tamale Central seat vacant, as required by Ghana’s 1992 Constitution.
The Electoral Commission has scheduled the by-election for September 30, 2025. While the NDC moved quickly to open nominations and vet aspirants, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) announced it would not contest the seat, citing the need to respect the somber circumstances and promote national unity.
By: Jacob Aggrey
