A Business Partner to the late Adams Mahama, Mr Tofic Mutallah says the man on his emergency ward bed repeatedly mentioned the names of those who bathed him with acid.

The names he said are those of Gregory and Asabke, individuals the business partner claimed poured acid on late Adams Mahama.

"Those names never parted the lips of the dying man," he said.

The Counsel for Asabke Alangdi, Mr. Andrew Vortia in a cross-examination, disagreed with the witness.

According to him, the whole Bolgatanga General Hospital emergency ward had been cordoned-off, as a result, visitors were standing on the corridors so there was no way he heard him say those names.

The then Upper East Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr. Adams Mahama was allegedly murdered in 2015.

The witness said the deceased told whoever was around him that those who poured the substance on him mentioned Gregory Afoko’s name as the brother of Paul Afoko 'with the Rasta hair'.

“He said this openly to the hearing of everyone in the ward,” he said.

The witness disagreed with the assertion that the Police were refused entry into both the emergency ward and the intensive care unit of the hospital, indicating that the Police entered the emergency ward but not everyone was allowed into the intensive care unit.

Mr Mutallah rejected the claim that Asabke got into contact with the deceased during the 2000 electioneering campaign, saying “we all lived in Bolgatanga.”

He said the accused person was not included in the deceased’s security detail and that he only came for money from the deceased but the Counsel disagreed saying at all material times, he was with the security detail.

Asked, whether the accused person came to ask for money as a beggar or for services he rendered to the deceased but the witness said the accused person had not rendered any service to the deceased.

He said the deceased was a generous man and that the accused person was just one of the boys of the NPP.

“If you visit his hometown and ask about him, there will be testimonies of his generosity,” he added.

Before the death of the deceased, did he have any problem with the accused person? The lawyer asked, but the witness said the accused person never had any problem with the deceased.

The Counsel suggested to the witness that there was no reason for the accused person to pour acid on the deceased after knowing him for the past 20 years and for the man who had been giving him money and the witness said, the whole family was surprised that the accused would do that after 20 years of knowing each other.

Asked whether there was any money problem between the accused and one Nuhu before his death and the witness answered in the negative.

However, he said Nuhu nearly crashed Mr Adam. with his pick-up but he escaped in the process.      

On this note, the Defence ended the cross-examination of the witness, Mutallah said, Mahama also begged him to take care of his family in the event of his death.

Adams Mahama suffered severe bodily injuries after a substance suspected to be acid was allegedly poured on him in front of his house in Bolgatanga on May 20, 2015.

He later died from the injuries at the Bolgatanga General Hospital.
Afoko was initially the only one standing trial after Alangdi allegedly absconded.

After more than three years of trial, the Attorney-General (A-G) filed a nolle prosequi on January 28, 2019, to discontinue the trial following the arrest of Alangdi, a situation that led to a new trial.

The State is expected to present its next witness on December 14, 2020.