The Fire Festival Bugim in the Tamale metropolitan area on Friday did not go off peacefully as planned; violence marred the celebrations.
According to authorities, fifteen people sustained various degree of injuries on Friday Bugim festival (fire festival) in the northern region. Out of the fifteen, nine were treated and discharged at the Tamale Teaching Hospital (TTH) while four others who sustained serious injuries are still on admission.
The injured include four females, Rahma Zakaria, 32, and Samaira Mohammed, 33, all residents of Lamashegu, a suburb of Tamale. The ladies according to the police reported the incident at about 12:30 a.m. with pellet injuries on various parts of their bodies.
Another lady, Rashida Abdul Aziz, 22, from Kukou who was not celebrating but just observing at 12:00 local time also sustained a gunpowder shot in the back which resulted in severe burns.
At Chagli, at about 7 p.m. Nazeru Uzefa aged, 15 who was among the celebrants was allegedly hit in the back and on the head with a gun by an unknown person which resulted in a deep head injury.
Northern regional Police Public Relation Officer, ASP Ebenezer Tetteh who was giving account of the incidents to Zaa News named Muftawu Sumaila, 32, as the one who fired the musketry
Car burned in Sang
At Sang in the Mion district, a ‘recalcitrant’ driver attempted driving through the celebrants and in the process hit and killed one of the celebrant. This angered the people who also retaliated by burning the vehicle. ASP Tetteh told Zaa News that, he was not surprised by the action of the people in Sang because a similar incident nearly ocurred in Kakpayili.
According to the the police PRO, the people celebrating at Kakpayili area did not burn the car but smashed the windshield. But for timely intervention of the police, the situation could have turn bad, ASP Tetteh said