Two of the eight individuals who perished in the August 6, 2025, helicopter crash have been buried.
The two, Dr. Murtala Mohammed, Minister for Environment, Science and Technology, and Alhaji Muniru Limuna Mohammed, were interred on Sunday, August 10, 2025, in line with Islamic customs.
Jannaza prayers were performed at the State House Forecourt before their bodies were transported to the Military Cemetery at Tse Addo, Accra, for burial.
The ceremony was led by National Chief Imam Sheikh Osman Nuhu Shaributu and attended by President John Dramani Mahama, Vice President Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, high-rank government officials, relatives of the deceased, and other mourners.
During his address, President Mahama thanked the families for their patience, noting that the condition of the remains required DNA testing in South Africa to confirm identities, allowing the burial to proceed.
The President praised the families for consenting to the burial at the military cemetery and assured them of full access to the gravesites.
“I want to thank the two families for their patience. We recognize that in Islam, when a person has died, they are supposed to be interred as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, the state in which the bodies were made it difficult for us to identify positively which was which, and that’s why we had to go through the scientific process of identifying.
“Happily, that process was ended yesterday, and we received electronically the forensic results for our two brothers, and that’s why we have come to bury ahead,” he said.
He honored the deceased, offering prayers for their admittance into paradise.
“The two brothers, Murtala and Muniru, were very close to me: Murtala I mentored from when he was a new MP at Nanton and he had been a devout member of our team, one of our very bright intellectuals, very eloquent in parliament, and he had been part of our reset agenda. Muniru was like a younger brother; he was a permanent fixture in my house and acted all out like my personal assistant.
“I sent him on errands, and so this is a very deep personal loss for me. But I know that they were Muslims and very devoted Muslims, and so I believe by Allah’s grace he will receive them in Jannah-tul Firdaus.”
He also commented on the arrival of forensic reports for the remaining victims and ongoing consultations regarding their burial arrangements.
“As I speak, the forensic report for the rest have also arrived, and so, in consultation with their families, we will decide how the families are able to hold separate events to commemorate their loved ones, and the government will be there to assist them,” the President noted.
