‘Arrest These Men’

The man with a knife to his neck

Two audios of national security implications have gone virile in the Zongo communities across the country.

Accompanying the audios is the image of a man holding a knife to his neck. One of the audios has a man announcing that he is one of the rebels who fought in the Ivorian war and that he and his colleagues are on their way to Ghana to join the Tijaniyya intra-sect imbroglio.

He said in Hausa: “We would take on policemen or soldiers. We are eager to drink human blood. Some of you have never seen a dead human being before. We are on our way to Accra to deal with those people.”

Somebody has hinted Daily Guide that the man whose image went virile and accompanying one of the audios is a resident of Atebubu in the Brong Ahafo Region.

In the second audio, a voice said: “We are leaving Techiman today and our warning is for all to stay indoors. We have a mission. There is someone who would point out the targets for us to do our work. We would leave as soon as we are done with our mission. If you are a Jalo we shall deal with you.”

In both audios, the impression is that a group of persons are heading for Accra to undertake a killing mission. While it is very possible that the intention is to cause fear and panic only and to attribute the origin to one of the two factions in the Tijaniyya sect, it could also be a warning signal for the security agencies to take action.

However, DAILY GUIDE can state that the voices are those of persons living in Ghana and therefore not in Ivory Coast and are therefore traceable.

In the past few weeks, tension has been high in the Zongo communities because of the remarks of Abu Fail Maikano Abdullahi. He has said he does not recognize the National Chief Imam as such, triggering disquiet in some sections of the Zongo communities.

There is a running battle on social media between supporters of the Chief Imam and Abu Fail. And their supporters are insulting each other. With the threats of rebels descending upon Accra being circulated on social media, the trouble in the Zongo communities should of course attract the attention of the national security apparatus.

If the idea of those circulating these audios and videos is to cause fear and panic, then they appear to have succeeded in doing so in some parts of the country.