Ibrahim Mahama Attack: First Video of Troubling Incident Involving Black Maria Team Emerges
- A video of the alleged police brutality on the CEO of Red Clay, Ibrahim Mahama, has emerged
- The Inspector-General of Police has ordered a probe into the case involving the artist in Tamale
- The IGP's Special Operations Team denied involvement, claiming the incident was an escalation
A video of the incident that led to the alleged attack on the renowned Ghanaian artist and CEO of Red Clay, Ibrahim Mahama, in Tamale, has emerged.
Police personnel accused of the attack were seen stopping the bus that Mahama and some family members were travelling on in the Northern Region capital.
Source: Facebook
The artist has accused the IGP's Special Operations Task Force, popularly known as the Black Maria and led by DSP Bawah Abdul Jalil, of police brutality.
The Black Maria team denied any wrongdoing and said it only acted to save the artist from a mob.
Mahama rubbished the claims by the police and insisted that they beat him up after he refused to delete visuals he took of them on the street.
The artist has since threatened to sue the police.
The video shows some men in plain clothing with vests, believed to be officers of the Black Maria unit, standing in front of a Red Clay bus Ibrahim Mahama was reportedly travelling on.
The video was shared on Facebook.
The Inspector-General of Police has directed the Police Professional Standards Bureau to probe the assault the artist reportedly suffered.
According to the police statement on Facebook, the investigation will run concurrently with the criminal investigation already underway by the Northern Regional Command.
Ibrahim Mahama cancels prestigious engagements
Meanwhile, the artist said he had been forced to suspend work and cancel several international engagements.
Mahama said injuries from the attack left him with speech difficulties and sleeplessness.
He claimed to have lost a tooth in the March 21 incident and was treated and discharged from the hospital.
The artist feared that the incident might keep him away from work for an extended period.
Source: Facebook
He said:
"Well, the impact of the assault is that I was supposed to be flying to London tonight to give a couple of lectures from Cambridge to Oxford to the Royal Arts Institute in London, then to Helsinki and also to Milan and Venice.
"I cannot really sleep at night because my ribs are still heightened from the assault… I’ll be a bit incapacitated within the studio and just trying to recover my health, at least within the next couple of months."
He was in the news in February for the wrong reasons when a fire destroyed a heritage train he had curated.
Mahama described the development as a tragic misfortune, attributing the fire to sparks from ongoing repair works on the train.
He shared photos of the devastation and response efforts on Facebook.
Ibrahim Mahama makes ArtReview’s Power list
YEN.com.gh previously reported that Ibrahim Mahama was the first African to top ArtReview’s Power 100 list.
Over the past year, the Ghanaians' work shaped creative innovation, cultural discourse, and institutional development.
Proofreading by Bruce Douglas, copy editor at YEN.com.gh.
Source: YEN.com.gh
