Chieftaincy clash claims two lives in Bolgatanga
Two persons were reported dead, with scores sustaining injuries, in suspected renewed chieftaincy clashes in the Atulbabisi community in Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region last Saturday.
Advertisement
Many houses were torched, with personal belongings vandalised.
Security has been beefed up in the community to prevent further clashes between supporters of the two royal gates.
The military and the police who were called in to quell the skirmishes and a temporary curfew imposed on the area last Saturday night until 6 a.m. the following morning when all entry and exit routes to the community were barricaded.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic, a native of Atulbabisi, Mr Sebastian Asore Abangba, said the renewed clashes began when one of the royal gates performed a burial ceremony at the royal cemetery.
He said while they were on their way back from the cemetery, the group allegedly attacked some houses belonging to the other faction without any provocation.
Intervention
He said but for the timely intervention of security personnel, there would have been a bloodbath in the area, as the young men from the other faction had gathered to resist any attack on them and also attack the assailants.
Mr Abangba said although personnel from the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) were called in to douse the fire in the houses that were torched, most people lost their personal property, as the firemen could not get access to the houses.
Victims
One victim of the attack, Mr Clement Adoko, said the youth were using the chieftaincy issue to loot and steal personal belongings of their victims.
He said the attackers broke into two rooms in his over 20-bedroom compound house and took away his Multi-TV decoder, a gas cylinder, a blender and some personal effects.
A final-year student of the Bolgatanga Presbyterian Junior High School, Master Thomas Adajliga, who is due to start his Basic Education Certificate Examination on June 5, 2017, had his books burnt.
Background
The Bolgatanga chieftaincy clashes started after the death of the Paramount Chief of Bolgatanga, Naba Martin Abilba III, in 2013, with his eldest son and another royal laying claim to the skin.
The Judicial Committee of the Upper East Regional House of Chiefs ruled on the matter, but the case is currently pending at the Bolgatanga High Court.
So far, the Upper East Regional Police Command has refused to comment on the renewed clash.