Ghana’s Deputy Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Hajia Boya Hawawu Gariba, has admitted that she fired warning shots to scare away some members of the Spring of Life Assemblies of God Church for allegedly attacking her at her residence at Tampe-Kukoo in the Sagnarigu District in the Northern Region on Christmas Day.
Hajia Gariba said she fired the warning shot in self-defence during a confrontation that ensued at her residence after some members of the church had entered her house to find out who had sprayed a substance, believed to be pepper, into the sitting room of an adjoining house close to the Deputy Ambassador’s residence where the church was holding a church service on Christmas Day.
She made the confession in an interview with the Daily Graphic and later at a meeting between her and the leadership of the church at the instance of the Tamale Metropolitan Police Commander, Chief Superintendent of Police, Mr William Lovoe, in Tamale yesterday.
Counter claims
While Hajia Gariba, in the said interview, insisted that she had fired the warning shots to defend herself from being attacked by the church members, numbering about 30, who had entered her residence, an elder of the church, Elder Yakubu Iddrisu, told the Daily Graphic that some members of the church had gone to Hajia Gariba’s house to find out who had fired a tear gas-like substance into the sitting room while the church service was going on.
According to Elder Iddrisu, the substance, which they suspected to be tear gas, had made some of their members to collapse, while others became weak after coughing profusely.
He said those who collapsed as a result of the irritating nature of the smoke in the sitting room were later revived.
Elder Iddrisu further debunked Hajia Gariba’s assertion that the church members who went to her residence to find out who had sprayed the substance into the sitting room had attacked her and others in the house.
In the interview, Hajia Gariba had explained that she sprayed the pepper into the sitting room of the adjoining house to stop the church members from making noise which had become unbearable to her and members of her household, including a sick old man.
Elder Iddrisu told the Daily Graphic that Hajia Gariba was their neighbour and that the house in which they held the church service belonged to the Pastor of the Spring of Life Assemblies of God Church, Pastor Gideon Panka.
Police
However, the police, at a meeting held at the Tamale Metropolitan Police Station between the two parties and Hajia Gariba confirmed that she had fired the warning shots and also sprayed pepper into Pastor Panka’s sitting room during the church service following the refusal of the church members to heed her advice to minimise the noise they made each time they held a church service there.
The Northern Regional Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Ghana Police Service, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Mr Ebenezer Tetteh, who briefed the Daily Graphic after the meeting, said the police had directed Hajia Gariba to produce a photocopy of the licence of the gun she used in firing the warning shots, while the church had been asked to produce a copy of the permit from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) which allowed it to hold church services in a residential area.
He said the police, after that, would commence investigations into the matter, adding that the police had issued medical forms to two persons who got injured during the confrontation, one from Hajia Gariba’s residence, while the other is a member of the church.
Recall
ASP Tetteh said during a church service at the Spring of Life Assemblies of God Church at Tampe-Kukoo in the Sagnarigu District on December 25, 2016, church members who had finished with their praise and worship session started coughing, while others collapsed.
At that point, they realised that an irritant substance had been sprayed into the sitting room where they were holding their Christmas Day church service.
He said some of the church members went to the adjoining house which belonged to Hajia Gariba to find out who had sprayed the substance into the sitting room, but a confrontation ensued between the church members and some people in Hajia Gariba’s house which led to an injury to a boy in the house and a member of the church.
He added that during the confrontation, Hajia Gariba fired warning shots which, according to her, were in self-defence.
Source: Graphic.com.gh
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This is really rediculous, what are we talking off? i live in Tamale n every where is dotted with mosques and big horn speakers, in d morning u just cant sleep bcos dey will be calling for mosque.....shd I call it disturbance? obviously not....d fact that i am not a moslem does not mean i shd tolerate my bros in islam belv.....we really need to be careful....tolerance is d key....our grand fathers lived peacefully b4 d advert of islam n christianity n we must keep dat traditn irrespective of our belvs....what is happening in neighbouring Nigeria n other sub saharan countries all started lik dis....lets really be careful....hajia is wrong 4 taking d law into her hands n we must condemn equally....period
Sad to read from educated illiterates like you. Churches need permits to operate. One can't just start a church anywhere so blame the Met. & the District Assemblies for being so incompetent to just approve Church permits anywhere. This is the F00OLISHNESS we have in Ghana. Look at how Fuel stations are just being permitted anywhere yet we have some F00OLS in positions as the EPA heads, District Assembly heads. No one brings them to account for disasters as the La/Trade fair fuel station. Just check Okudzato's Fuel Stattion at Akokpo Photo. Right in the midst of residential area,but we will wait till disaster then we will close that one. .
Is she the deputy ambassador or the wife of the deputy ambassador? Deal with her as if she is a rat.
THESE CHURCHES TAKE ADVANTAGE OF GHANAIANS BEEN DO-CIL-E TO LOCATE CHURCHES ANYWHERE EVEN IN RESIDENTIAL AREAS AND MAKE ALL THE NOISE THEY WANT WITHOUT COURTESY FOR PEOPLES PEACE OF MIND.MUCH AS THE LADY,S GUNSHOT IS CONDEMNABLE AM SURE SHE COULD NO MORE TAKE THE LEVEL OF NOISE FROM THE CHURCH AFTER APPEALS TO THEM.ITS TIME GHANAIANS BECOME BOLD AND TRUTHFUL AND CONDEMN SUCH CHURCHES THAT MAKE UNBEARABLE NOISE IN RESIDENCIAL AREAS.
By their Action,they shall be ,,,hahahaha.!! I laugh enter Onaapo Office.
Arrogance of power, Hajia why didn't you report the matter to the police but took the laws into your own hands, even woman in NDC are wielding offensive weapons, u don't fear God, shot teargas to worshipping crowd, No wonder God has taken the power away from ur hands just like he did to Nebukaddnezer, Deputy ambassador k3k3, what about the substantive himself, Is not surprising at all that Ghanaians shown u a perfect exit