Escapees back in jail

Bawku (U/E), May 29, GNA - A forty-seven year-old escapee, Abubakari Asigri, now a born-again Pastor, has been re-arrested by the Bawku police after being on the run for 24 years. Asigri, who was convicted in a theft case in 1982 and imprisoned for a four-year jail term, escaped after serving only two months when he was taken out for outside duties.

The escapee, who returned to his hometown, Worikambo, near Garu in the Garu-Tempane district, two years ago, said he had been frequenting his hometown since the previous government granted amnesty to prisoners.

He said he fled to Togo, where he met some white missionaries who converted him into Christianity and later on became an interpreter with them till they left.

Asigri, said after the departure of the missionaries, he had an urge to return home to help his community to share in his faith, which he did together with his five-month-old pregnant wife and three kids, thinking that he was covered by the amnesty granted. The Bawku Divisional Police Commander, Chief Superintendent Emmanuel Bledjimah, who confirmed the arrest, said the police had a tip-off about the convict and when he was interrogated he admitted that he was an escapee.

He has since been returned to prisons custody to continue his sentence, pending a new charge of escape from lawful custody.