Seven injured in Bolgatanga chieftaincy clashes

Seven persons sustained various degrees of injury while some houses were burnt down during Saturday's chieftaincy clashes at Atulibabisi, a suburb of Bolgatanga.

Valuable property running into several thousands of Ghana Cedis and personal documents were also burnt.

Many of the victims whose rooms were burnt are said to be widows. Some of the inhabitants particularly women and children have fled the area.

Speaking to the Media after meeting the two factions in the Bolgatanga chieftaincy dispute, the Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police ( DCOP) Simon Afeku, said there were sporadic gunshots fired by the two factions on Saturday night .

The Police Commander said it took the intervention of the police and the military to calm down the situation, and that the seven persons who were injured were currently receiving treatment at the Bolgatanga Regional hospital.

He said the Ghana National Fire Service was also called in to assist put off the fire in the houses that had been set ablaze.

DCOP Afeku who was accompanied by the Airborne force Commander from Tamale, Lt Colonel Joe Malik Punamane, appealed to the leaders of both factions to talk to their people, particularly the youth to desist from fomenting trouble.

He said so far no arrest had been made but gave the assurance that investigations were ongoing to arrest the culprits. He warned that anybody found disturbing the peace in the region would be arrested and made to face the full rigours of the law.

“As an institution mandated to keep law and order, we will not sit down for you to cause damage to lives and properties and anybody caught in such acts would be dealt with according to the law”, he warned.

Early this year the two royal families in Bolgatanga, each claiming title to the chieftaincy, had their candidates enskinned to succeed the late Bolga-Naba Martin Abilba III.

One of the contestants was enskinned in Bolgatanga, while the other was enskinned by the Nayiri at Nalerigu and was later escorted to Bolgatanga.

The Bolgatanga chieftaincy dispute is currently before the Judicial Committee of the Upper East Regional House of Chiefs which is to decide which of the two claimants would become the substantive Bolga-Naba.