Renowned Ghanaian artist Ibrahim Mahama has alleged that the commander of the police Special Operations Team, DSP Bawah Abdul Jalil, was present during his alleged assault and could have stopped it but failed to intervene.

Mr Mahama says the officer did not physically participate in the assault but remained at the scene from the beginning near the Mariam Hotel in Tamale until they arrived at the police station.

“He was not physically involved in the assault, but all the men were acting under his command because he was on the site from the very beginning until we went to the police station,” Mahama said.

He recounted the events in detail, stating that the officer remained present throughout the incident.

“…He was on the site, he was there at the scene, the Mariam Hotel when the whole thing happened and when we went to the police station we were in a police pickup behind his car which we were driven to the police station and they asked us to take off our clothes because my clothes were covered in blood.

“There, the officers continued to assault me because they wanted me to delete the video that they thought I was taking of them when they started hitting the car and I started filming and that was what they were actually annoyed by that I was filming them.”

Mahama maintained that the team’s commander was fully aware of the assault but did nothing to stop it.

“For me, it wasn’t a matter of whether he hit us or not. Everything happened under his command. If he wanted it to stop or if he didn’t want it to transpire at all, that would have been the case but that was not what happened. He did know [it was me] very well,” he stated in an interview with Citi FM.

He further claimed that DSP Bawah Abdul Jalil knew him personally and was familiar with his family, yet failed to intervene during the alleged assault.

His account contradicts an earlier statement from the police team, which denied that any assault took place. The officers stated that the incident arose from a traffic enforcement operation that escalated after a driver allegedly blocked the road and failed to comply with instructions.

According to the police, officers acted to prevent a possible mob attack and arrested those involved for offensive conduct, later releasing them into the custody of their father.