Beheaded AMA Worker Buried

THE REMAINS of Nana Yaw Ofori, a staff of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) who was killed and his head chopped off, would be laid to rest after a year�s fruitless search for the missing head. The 32-year-old who was working at the Bill Boards Accounts Department of the AMA was allegedly murdered on the afternoon of Saturday November 27, 2010. His headless body, with only a pair of shorts, was found on the shores of the La Beach in a shallow grave. The James Town Police arrested John Yankah, a consultant with an advertising company, in connection with the gruesome murder. This was after investigations showed that the deceased had received threatening phone calls and text messages which were allegedly traced to Yankah. Some of the text messages allegedly read, �If he (Nana Yaw) does not fall in line with my demands I (John Yankah) will let him vanish into thin air. They (his family) will be looking for him and will never find him.� On Saturday November 27, 2010, Nana Yaw reportedly left home early in the morning, ostensibly to his office, after he received a phone call but he never returned. Investigations subsequently showed that Nana Yaw went to the office after being called by one of his bosses named Drobo. However, the said Drobo later called back to say there was power outage at the office so there was no need for him to come to work. According to Daily Guide sources, that was the last time the said Drobo heard from the deceased. His girlfriend, who got worried after waiting for him, called at about 11:30am. According to her, the deceased was virtually whispering, �I�ll call you back�� as though he was trapped in some kind of awkward situation and that was the last time they spoke, as several other calls to his phone later failed to connect. The phone was either out of coverage area or switched off. A week later, on Friday December 3, 2010, his remains were found by some fishermen on the shores of the La beach where he was buried in a shallow grave. One of his two phones was retrieved from an unnamed person who was loitering around the Independence Square in Accra. Meanwhile, the other phone was in his drawer at the office. His head and other vital organs such as intestines, among others, were also missing. The nature of the remains further deepened suspicions that his killers were skilled in the art of preserving human body, as they had injected a substance which could be an embalming fluid into his body. This act, according to a medical source, would preserve the organs for some days. After a year of being in the Police Hospital morgue, the headless remains would be buried tomorrow Saturday December 3, 2011 at the Osu Cemetery. Deep-throat sources said the deceased and suspect John Yankah, currently on bail, reportedly disagreed over an intellectual property he (Nana Yaw) had acquired. Nana Yaw was said to have researched on the number of bill boards in the city and the numbers owned by each advertiser in the metropolis after the AMA increased its rates for outdoor advertisement from GH�1,500 to GH�15,000 per year, forcing most advertisers who found the new rates rather exorbitant out of business. Nana Yaw, after he realized his life was really in danger, reported the incident to his mother, Reverend Victoria Riverson. Rev. Riverson said she subsequently reported to her son�s bosses who assured her they would handle the case internally, pleading that she kept the matter out of the domain of the Police. She said she obliged the request of Nana Yaw�s bosses because she trusted that the right thing would be done. Indeed, there was enough evidence to show that Nana Yaw had gone to work on that fateful Saturday but never checked out of the premises, sources had said. His grieving mother told Daily Guide that she wished to bury her son so he could rest in peace while the family also tried to console themselves over the loss. �I know my son was a born-again Christian so he is gone to rest. Even if the system denies him justice, God reigns and his killers will never go unpunished.� Until his untimely death, Nana Yaw Ofori, in a narration by a source close to AMA, had been complaining bitterly about his job. The deceased had allegedly told his immediate bosses on several occasions that he was no longer interested in working with the consultant who he claimed had been abusing his rights by using him for jobs that he (consultant) was paid to do. �On one occasion, Nana and the consultant had a serious conflict over the subject,� the source disclosed. Sometimes, he alleged that he was being asked to alter figures of invoices and receipts regarding bill board contracts and advertisements. However, the deceased was transferred from the Bill Boards Accounts to the Final Accounts Office of the AMA and was murdered shortly after the transfer. Nana Yaw was the first of five children. He was a past student of Achimota School and the Central University College. He had no wife and left behind no child. He was however preparing for his marriage when he was murdered in cold blood a few days after he celebrated his 32nd birthday.