Inside story on Bawumia’s accident

Information available to The Al-Hajj indicates that, the New Patriotic Party’s claim that President John Mahama in collaboration with the National Security, masterminded the accident involving the NPP’s 2012 presidential running mate, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia could not after all hold water as latest revelations show that the cause of the accident has direct links with the former deputy governor of the Central Bank himself.

Stating the real facts surrounding the Sunday, March 17, 2013 accident involving the NPP’s 2012 running mate and his entourage, a dyed-in-wool member of the NPP in Tamale, who is also associated with Dr. Bawumia’s campaign team in the Northern region and having full knowledge of what happened that fateful day, downplayed the involvement of any persons’ hands in the accident.

The NPP stalwart, who is a true son of Dagbon, said to be haunted by his conscience for his party’s incessant accusation of innocent people for happenings they have no knowledge of, in an exclusive interview with The Al-Hajj on strict conditions of anonymity noted that, Dr. Bawumia’s accident was a result of an intense panic that greeted his driver when a hidden disease struck the former deputy governor of the Central Bank, a claim the office of Dr Bawumia has vehemently denied.

According to him, Dr Bawumia has a hidden internal ailment similar to hernia that is known to only people close to him, adding “anytime he is struck by the sickness, (we call it Poli) he has partial seizure, he feels restless, agitated as if he will pass on and if you have not witnessed this of him before, you will panic and start shouting that Dr Bawumia is about to die.”

The NPP man said they noticed this at one of the engagements of Dr. Bawumia when he toured the Northern region in the heat of the 2012 campaign, and said, he was struck by that same illness; the severity of which necessitated an order from some stalwarts of the party for him to be hurriedly and furtively flown to Accra for emergency medical treatment in November last year.

According to the source, so surreptitious was the situation that even his handlers themselves did not have an idea of what happened.

He gave the 2012 NPP presidential running mate one week to confess the real cause of his accident and stop accusing the sitting president and his government, warning that failure to do so would result in unintended consequences.

Early this year, Dr Bawumia, in the company of his aide, Mr Kwabena Boadu; his bodyguard, referred to only as Tanko, and his driver Emmanuel, were involved in an accident when they were returning from the late Bole Wura’s funeral.

The accident occurred when it was alleged that two tyres of the Toyota V8 land cruiser they were travelling on exploded 15 minutes into the journey and Dr Bawumia had to be flown to Accra where he was attended to at a private hospital.

The unfortunate incident assumed a wild political tone when the General Secretary of the NPP, Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie and some leading members of the party accused the NDC, President Mahama and the National Security of plotting to kill Dr. Bawumia so that the NPP’s petition against the results of the 2012 presidential election pending at the Supreme Court would not see the light of day, an allegation they strenuously denied.

But providing a vivid first-hand account of what actually caused the accident; even when the police is yet to come out with their findings, the NPP executive member of one of the Tamale constituencies made nonsense of his party’s wild accusations saying “the truth of the matter is, nobody planned or plotted anything to eliminate Dr. Bawumia… his driver whiles on top speed panicked as a result of the sudden sickness that attacked his boss and applied the brakes instantly causing the accident.”

“God says we should always speak the truth; the fact that we are from different political parties does not mean we should peddle falsehood against each other even when we know what we are saying is not true. An innocent man like President Mahama is being accused of things he has no knowledge of… I have decided not to speak on this issue because, I think it is a bad experience for Dr Bawumia, but later commentaries on the unfortunate incident in the media has pushed me to come out and clear the airwaves for people to stop accusing innocent people,” the source added.

But in a sharp contrast to the latest revelation, an aide to Dr Bawumia and former youth organizer of the NPP, Anthony Karbo rubbished the claims against the former deputy Governor of the Central Bank, saying “I have known Dr Bawumia since his days at the Bank of Ghana, he has nothing like hernia or whatever… I mean, this is somebody who is always in the gym; until the accident that has made him to stay away from the gym for a while, he is always in the gym exercising.”

“Is this where our politics has gotten to? Dr Bawumia is not suffering from any unknown sickness and there was no occasion when he was struck by that so-called sickness that media men had to take their cameras off him, I was with him up North throughout the campaign, nothing of that sought happened,” Karbo added.

According to him, the police have taken up the matter and they are investigating the cause of the accident, therefore, they should be allowed and given the peace of mind to do their work, adding “their findings will inform all of us what actually caused the accident.”

However, an expert in automobile speaking to The Al-Hajj disclosed that when the brakes of most Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs) such as the V8 and other land cruising vehicles are applied instantly when on top speed, there is a high possibility of the back tyres bursting, an act, the expert said could have accounted for Dr Bawumia’s accident.