Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Shamima Muslim has shared heartfelt memories of her long-time friends and colleagues, Dr Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed and Dr Edward Omane Boamah, following their tragic passing in the Ghana Armed Forces helicopter crash.
Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show on Thursday, August 7, Ms Muslim reflected on their days as student leaders at the University of Ghana, where their passion for learning, service, and political consciousness first began to show.
“My heart goes out to the young wife and children of my friend, Dr Ibrahim Murtala,” she said. “We were all student leaders and members of the Legon community years ago.”
She recalled how Dr Omane Boamah, who was then a medical school representative on the SRC, would travel from Korle Bu to the Legon campus just to attend meetings.
“Omane was also the medical school rep on our SRC. He used to come to Legon for SRC meetings,” she said.
Sharing a personal memory, Ms Muslim recounted one specific journey they pursued as student activists – a bus trip from Accra to Cape Coast.
“I recall a year Dr Omane Boamah contested for the SRC presidency. We were on the same bus. He was sitting in front of me or next to me, and he was reading a book.”
Out of curiosity, she asked to see what he was reading.
“I took the book from him and it was about the life of Che Guevara. That was the first time I came across that name. He told me who he was, his principles, and his ideas.”
Ms Muslim said those moments captured the intellectual depth of both men, noting their shared love for knowledge and their political convictions even as students.
“You would never see Dr Murtala without him holding a book on Pan-Africanism. He had a whole library of all Nkrumah’s books.”
She described them as young men who believed in investing in themselves and their minds from an early age.
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“These are young people who invested in themselves, invested in knowledge from their student days. So it’s no shock that they grew into international prominence the way they did.”
Reflecting on the loss, she expressed sorrow that their lives were cut short at a time when they had reached positions of real influence and could give even more back to the nation.
“At the point that they were in a position to truly give back profoundly to this country, God Almighty the creator and giver of life, said it was important to come home.”
Dr Edward Omane Boamah, Minister for Defence, and Dr Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed, Minister for Environment and MP for Tamale Central, were among eight people who died in the helicopter crash in the Adansi Akrofuom District on Wednesday, August 6.
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