Lawyer Obiri Boahen
Private legal practitioner, lawyer Obiri Boahen, has taken a strong exception to claims by wife of late JB Danquah, Ivy Heward-Mills that the state is playing playing ‘ludo, oaware and chaskele’ with the murder of late husband.
The lawyer who was infuriated by the post posted on the official Facebook wall of the widow said, the post was unnecessary and insulting.
Lawyer Obiri Bohen said, the post was insulting to him as a legal representative on the case, the judge presiding over the matter, the Attorney General’s office and the police investigators.
She slammed the widow and accused her of not showing interest in the case.
He said, you don’t make these accusations of ludo and oware, when you do that you are not being fair to the people working on the case. You don’t make this blanket statement on Facebook.”
The lawyer felt Ivy Heward-Mills could have spoken to the police authority on the accusation of sexual harassment she accused the investigator of.
He also wondered why the widow failed to name the police officer who she accused of sexual harassment.
The post by the widow he insisted was not right, proper and painful.
In a barrage of questions he asked: “When was the last time she came to court? Has she shown interest as a widow in the case? And so why is she accusing the government of playing chaskele with the case? Does she know the number of people who have expressed interest in the case?
The widow of the late MP who was killed three years ago in commemorating the third anniversary of the death of her beloved husband, expressed pain at the inability of the state to bring finality to the death of her husband.
Read below her post:
Exactly three years ago today, my husband, JB Danquah Adu, MP; DIDN’T DIE. He was brutally assassinated in barbarous tudor fashion. Three years on, there’s neither a sign of justice for him, nor for my children and I.
You see, Jo Cox, MP, was also brutally assassinated by shooting and stabbing in London on June 16, 2016; four months after JB. Before end of November, Thomas Mair, her assailant had been tried and sentenced to life imprisonment. Of course, it didn’t bring her back but I bet my last Pesewa that it gave her family a certain measure of closure and relief from their grief. They can go to sleep every night knowing that the country she served had served her too by giving her justice. They can recount or tell the story of her life with a conclusion. It took five months. FIVE MONTHS, for the British police & judiciary to do right by their MP. I’m afraid that’s far more than I can say for Ghana.
36 months after JB’s murder, Ghana is still playing “Ludo” & “Oware” or perhaps “chacha” with the matter. Between then and now, I have been harassed and threatened by family, citizens & police alike. I have had jesters amongst his peers call me names and cast aspersions at me; perhaps out of fear of their own dark shadows! I have had de-facto spokespersons, aided by media houses, slandering me. I have had his townsfolk attack my family and I. I have been summoned to the Police HQ on countless occasions and subjected to what I would casually describe as “the act of scrubbing a fresh wound with Himalayan rock salt” and topped up with a million and one questions including, to my shock, a very gleeful “so madam do you wear waist beads?” in a meeting room populated by a men only CID team who perhaps thought it was their birthright to get familiar with what’s in every woman’s underwear! And if you think that’s inappropriate, try that Sunday morning when one of those men; a man at the helm of investigating my husband’s murder, thought it sensible to muster the sheer unadorned temerity, call me and tell me how beautiful / sexy he thinks I am and give me reasons why I must marry him; an already married man. Yes, he had the audacity… and this was the head of a certain significant unit at the CID… and I’m supposed to trust that they did a great job? May God forgive him.
It took 5 months for Jo Cox’s assailant to be apprehended, prosecuted and convicted. 3 years ago, the Ghanaian police assured me they will apprehend the murderer ASAP. Within 3 days, they had done just that and given me hope for justice. 36 months later… (three bad years & over 7 times the number of months the UK took to resolve the case of Jo Cox’s murder,) we are still watching “comedies” (previews) and the “cine” (movie / show) is yet to start.
I woke up a few minutes ago with a cocktail of emotions- anger, hurt, renewed grief with a topping of clouds of disappointment. But a sudden wind of calm seems to be blowing over me. It’s almost as though the universe were whispering “relax, Ivy; relax…” After a prayer, a glass of water and a few deep breaths, I picked up my phone to catch up on emails and below is the content of the first email I opened:
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. (Isaiah 55:8)
“Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for him to act.” (Psalm 37:7)
God is in no hurry. We tend to think that if God is really engaged, He will change things within the next hour or so. Certainly by sundown. Absolutely by the end of the week. But God is not a slave to the human clock. Compared to the works of mankind, He is extremely deliberate and painfully slow. As religion poet George Herbert wisely penned, “God’s mill grinds slow, but sure.”
It’s all making sense now… that sense of calm was indeed the universe saying “relax, Ivy; relax…” I take the quotes as a message to my children and I; and I pass on the commentary to those who deemed it fit to take a life that is not their own. A life that they did not create. A life that they cannot replace.
I might look at the entire situation with disdain but I know God is watching; He doesn’t sleep! No matter how long it takes, no matter how long… GOD’S MILL WILL GRIND.
Continue to rest in our maker’s bosom, Kofi; continue to be a guardian angel watching over your three girls. & forgive them… them that stole all you had. Them that stole your life…
