How Ghanaian police officer saved the life of Liberia’s vice president

Vice President of Liberia, Jeremiah Koung, recently visited Ghana on a thank-you mission to express gratitude to a Ghanaian police officer, Emmanuel Ekow Addison, who saved his life 24 years ago.

Addison, now retired, showed remarkable professionalism to prevent a potential lynching and killing of Koung and his friends. They were falsely accused and arrested on suspicion of being armed robbers.

In an interview with Accra-based JoyNews alongside the retired police officer, the Liberian vice president recounted the traumatic ordeal from the late 90s. He shared that during a period of heightened civil unrest in Liberia, he and five friends traveled to Togo on a business trip to purchase vehicles for resale in Liberia.

Their trip took an unexpected turn when they made a stop in Ghana to buy gas cylinders. This decision changed their lives forever.

“We were a group of five who arrived in Accra from Danale in Côte d’Ivoire between 1:00am and 2:00am on a bus belonging to an Ivorian transport company named STIF, which was on the way to Togo. We should’ve gone to Togo but we used to buy cylinders in Ghana and take them to Liberia to sell so, we made a stop in Ghana.

“Upon arrival into Ghana at the time [2:00am], one of my friends suggested we head to a nearby entertainment centre called ‘Yakiki’ to spend the night instead of lodging into a hotel,” he narrated.

Jeremiah Koung added that at around 4:00 am on Sunday morning, he and his friends boarded a bus they believed was heading to Togo. However, they soon realized they had mistaken two individuals in the bus as the drivers’ assistants.

After a long night of partying and consuming alcohol, the five friends were completely exhausted and fell asleep during the journey, unaware of the looming danger ahead.

During the journey, Koung said a vigilant Togolese in the bus quickly alerted them to the suspicious behavior of the driver and his two accomplices, who were plotting to conduct a robbery.

“While we were asleep, the driver and his two accomplices engaged in a conversation in Twi, plotting a robbery during the journey. However, the Togolese understood the conversation and subsequently raised an alarm, which prompted a confrontation,” he narrated.

This led to some of the passengers shouting at Koung and his friends, labeling them as criminals because they seemed out of place on the bus.

“These are criminals,” Koung recounted the words as he said some of the passengers kept repeating them.

Soon after, they realized that the driver and his two accomplices had abandoned the vehicle in the middle of the road and fled into a nearby bush.

This forced Koung’s friend to drive the vehicle to the nearest police station to report the matter. Upon their arrival, they learned that the driver and his accomplice had also fled to a nearby naval base and falsely alleged that some Liberians had robbed a Ghanaian driver of his vehicle.

However, this SOS message had been sent to the very police station they went to report the matter, where they met Officer Emmanuel Ekow Addison. He listened to their ordeal and assisted them in filing a police report.

Jeremiah Koung said Officer Addison committed to properly investigating the matter, which later led to their exoneration. He shared that the police officer ensured that every valuable piece of information was properly sourced and investigated.

“Officer Addison followed us to the crime scene and also took us to the Naval base to find out about the incident but when we got there, one of the officers confirmed and told them the Togolese and another friend were picked up as suspects and sent to the Fishing Port Police Station. It was there that me and my friends were arrested and placed behind bars as suspects who escaped.

“But during the investigations, I was able to prove that we were indeed businessmen. I had to lead the police officer to a spot where we had buried an amount of US$40,000 meant for our trading activities in Togo,” he recalled.

Koung emphasized that the discovery of hidden money provided crucial evidence of their innocence and led to their release from police custody.

After being released, they attempted to express gratitude to Officer Addison by offering him a monetary gesture of US$3,000. However, Koung said Addison refused the gift, emphasizing that he was simply doing his duty as an officer of the law.

Now, 24 years later, Jeremiah Koung was determined to locate Officer Addison to properly show his appreciation to the Ghanaian police officer who demonstrated exemplary conduct and commitment to justice.