Hundreds of mourners, including the Finance and Economic Affairs Minister, Kwabena Duffour, converged on the Covenant Rest Mission at Tesano, Accra, to pay their last respect to Nana Yaw Ofori, the beheaded Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) staff. Nana Yaw Ofori, 32, who met his untimely death on Saturday November 27, 2010, was finally laid to rest on Saturday December 3 after a year’s fruitless wait for his decapitated head. Not only was his head chopped off by his assailants, but other vital body parts like his intestines were taken away. The General Overseer of the Covenant Rest Mission church, Reverend Victoria Riverson, who preached the sermon during the thanksgiving and memorial service, called on the gathering not to shed tears as the deceased, who was also a deacon at the Taifa branch of the Covenant Rest Mission, was only sleeping in the Lord’s bosom. She asked them to repent and cling to God, the all powerful who saw both the seen and unseen. “He (Nana Yaw) would rise again when Christ comes back for the righteous,” she stated. “By strength shall no man prevail. Death is nothing before God because he (God) is the resurrection and the life. Yeah them that believe in him shall live even when they die. Nana Yaw lives and he lives forever more,” she stressed. Rev. Riverson, who is also the mother of the deceased, surprised everybody with her courage as she did not shed a tear and encouraged her family and sympathizers to do same. She said God had an appointed time to avenge the death of Nana Yaw, adding that much as God is merciful; He is also a consuming fire. “Do you remember how John the Baptist died?” she asked. She likened Nana Yaw’s death to that of John the Baptist’s and stressed that God’s ways were not the ways of mortals. “Be encouraged, because they want us to wail helplessly as those who do not have hope so they can overpower us. We have God. This is victory so let everybody hold their tears,” she charged. Nana Yaw was later laid to rest at the Osu Cemetery where Rev. Riverson asked God to chase after her son’s murderers and bring them to book within a year. She said, “Nana Yaw Ofori, you have been brought here as a result of murder. Everyone that has hand in the planning and the bringing to fruition of this satanic conspiracy and orchestration should be uncovered a year by this time.” She stressed that Nana Yaw’s killers would never go free because she served a living God who saw the murderers at time they killed her son. God would definitely avenge Nana Yaw’s death, she noted. Nana Yaw Ofori, before he was beheaded, was a staff at the AMA Billboards Accounts Department. He was however transferred to the Final Accounts Department after some scuffles between him and one John Yankah of Via Affinity, a consultant at AMA. Sources said the deceased had been threatened on several occasions by Yankah through text messages and phone calls because he refused to hand over an intellectual property he had acquired to the suspect and also change some figures concerning billboards contracts. Even though his mother reported the behaviour of Yankah to the authorities at AMA, nothing was done about it. Ofori was beheaded shortly after his transfer from Yankah’s office. Yankah was arrested in connection with the murder but was later bailed. A medical source said the nature of the remains showed that the killers might have injected an embalming fluid into Nana Yaw’s body before taking his parts away. The embalming fluid would preserve the body parts, keeping them fresh after some days. Nana Yaw Ofori was born On November 2, 1978. He had his primary and secondary education at the Achimota School and continued at the Central University College. After his university education, he was employed by the AMA where it was presumed he was beheaded, as sources said they saw him enter the premises on Saturday November 27, 2010 but never saw him leaving the premises. His body was found on December 3, 2010 at the La Beach, buried in a shallow grave with a pair of shorts which his mother used to identify him. He had no wife or child. He was however preparing for his marriage when he was brutally murdered a few days after his 32nd birthday. Police sources said investigation into the mysterious circumstances surrounding Nana Yaw’s death was not over as the case was being handled by officers at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Headquarters.