KILLED! Abass Saani. INSET: Aminu Alhassan
The story of Aminu Alhassan, who is alleged to have killed his friend Abass Saani- a murder which took place at Techiman in the Brong Ahafo Region- offers important security lessons for us all.
Security consciousness is a sine qua non if we must remain alive in this parlous world full of diabolic persons who would leave no stone unturned in their quest to acquire money.
Many are those who take no interest in the movement of the people they share neighbourhoods with, preferring to “mind their own business”.
When we are excessively mindful of our own business, ignoring the fire next-door, we become foolish. By the time we decide to mind the business next-door, the fire would have reached our end.
So indifferent are we with such security observations that there have been several instances where armed robbers have eluded attention in areas they have been in perpetual residence. It is only when such persons hit the end of the road that we exclaim, “So he was an armed robber!”
We enter public places and do not take interest in the people we meet at such places, much to our detriment and society’s.
The suspicious movements of Aminu Alhassan in the part of Mamobi where he lived in Accra for many years should have encouraged residents to ask questions about what he does for a living since he was not born there.
People in the neighbourhood continued to look on indifferently as he brazenly engaged in acts bordering on criminality.
But for the observation of someone who discovered that having traveled with the murdered person it was necessary to find out from the suspect where the deceased was, he would have chalked another criminal success.
When Aminu Alhassan returned from Techiman after killing Abass Saani and robbing him of an amount of GH¢340,000, his lifestyle changed overnight and nobody took notice of the abrupt change. Perhaps, residents in the neighbourhood were simply minding their own business, especially since the suspect had suddenly turned into a philanthropist doling out money to people who came his way.
Cooperation between the police and the public is necessary if we must pull the brakes on the activities of rogues in our communities. When we become critical observers in our neighbourhoods, criminals would have no place to hide.
It is our position that Aminu Alhassan’s criminalities could not have lasted long had his neighbours, especially those sharing the same compound with him, asked questions about this queer character- the man who called himself the “Lion Heart”.
Such neighbours ignored Aminu but eventually paid a high price with the murder of Abass Saani and the negative spotlight on their neighbourhood.
Only a Lion Heart, as he calls himself, can hit his friend’s head with a quarry type hammer and consequently smash it with a cement block so he could rob him of money.
Need we harbor such criminals in our communities through indifference about the persons who share our neighbourhoods with us?
