The Dean of the University of Professional Studies (UPSA) Law School, Prof Kofi Abotsi, has made an impassioned plea for Ghanaians to remember the eight fallen public servants whose lives were claimed in a tragic helicopter crash in the Adansi Akrofuom District of the Ashanti Region.

The victims of the crash, which included Defence Minister Edward Omane Boamah and Environment Minister Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed, were reportedly burned beyond recognition.

They were accompanied by Muniru Mohammed, Acting Deputy National Security Coordinator; Samuel Aboagye, a former parliamentary candidate; and Samuel Sarpong, Vice Chairman of the NDC.

Tragically, the military crew members, Squadron Leader Peter Bafemi Anala, Flying Officer Manin Twum-Ampadu, and Sergeant Ernest Addo Mensah, also lost their lives in the crash.

He emphasised that they should not be remembered merely as the ‘Gallant Eight’, but as individuals whose lives held deep significance for their families, friends, and the nation.

Speaking on Newsfile, Professor Abotsi revealed that he had personally encountered some of the deceased and found the loss difficult to process.

“The sad ‘Gallant Eight’ were persons I have encountered,” he said. “It took me a little bit of time to process it, because two of the personalities were part of that group.”

Professor Abotsi highlighted a common societal tendency in the face of large-scale tragedy, the reduction of real human lives into statistics.

He warned that while the phrase “Gallant Eight” has become a powerful symbol of collective mourning, it risks unintentionally stripping away the individuality and humanity of the people behind the label.

“We should humanise them,” he urged. “Because very often when people die or perish in a tragedy involving other people, especially when numbers are involved, we tend to put them in statistics, and we take away their humanity.”

He added, “We’ve already started calling them the ‘Gallant Eight’, which is good, it’s a way of remembering and immortalising them. But there’s a tendency to, in the process, unwittingly dehumanise them.”

“These were human beings. These are persons who have touched people’s lives at different levels, and who have led our country, who are therefore patriots,” Prof Abotsi said.

Drawing attention to the families and communities affected, he added: “There’s a family without a father. There’s a home without a son. There’s a family without a husband. There are siblings who have lost their siblings this morning. There are friends who do not have their friends. And so it’s a very sad and sordid experience.”