'We were taken by surprise' – Ho MCE on Togolanders' STC yard attack

Tuesday dawn’s attack on the State Transport Corporation yard at Ho, the Volta regional capital, by Western Togolanders, was a surprise attack, the Municipal Chief Executive, Prosper Pi-Bansah, has said.

The separatist group torched two buses in the attack and beat up a driver, too.

“I’m right at the spot here now and the situation is not good to speak about”.

“They’ve damaged two buses”, he confirmed.

“Fortunately,” he said, “they were not able to damage eight, which were safely parked here.”

“But I learnt the people were around 7:30 to observe, they stayed with the watchman and had a chat with him”, Mr Pi-Bansah stated on AccraFM’s morning show on Tuesday, 29 September 2020.

“They came around 2 am. There was a driver in the car, so they beat up the driver and took the watchman [hostage] even though there were no casualties recorded,” the MCE noted.

Following a similar violent attack by the same group last week Friday in which they overpowered police officers at two police stations at stole weapons from the armouries, the MCE said: “We envisaged that they would target the market and some key [installations], so, there were security personnel manning [them] but this STC station was taken by surprise”.

Now, however, he said the security agencies “have beefed up security.”

“The soldiers are surrounding the whole place and some other places; the banks and some other vital places.



“They are on top [of the security situation in the region].

“I think because we have not mounted a security post here [STC], that is why they have taken it at the blindside.

“We didn’t know they will attack the STC yard.

“We were taken by surprise”, he admitted.