Story: Timothy Gobah & Vincent Amenuveve, Buipe
THE timely intervention of the security details of the Vice-President, Mr John Dramani Mahama, and the Northern Regional Police Command averted a possible clash between the two rival factions in a protracted chieftaincy dispute at Buipe in the Central Gonja District at the weekend.
Moments before the arrival of Mr Mahama and his entourage to cut the sod for a shea processing plant in the area, members of both the Lebu and Jinapor gates engaged in a confrontation that nearly marred the beauty of the ceremony.
Both factions were physically preventing each other from participating in the ceremony and that led to the feud.
The District Security Committee (DISEC) has, however, denied any gunshots.
Meanwhile, Mr Mahama has directed the Northern Regional Police Command to investigate the matter and identify and ensure the immediate arrest of the culprits.
He cautioned the youth in the area to desist from acts of lawlessness and indiscipline, saying that those negative acts affected the development of the area and the region as a whole.
“Such impunity should not be allowed any longer. There are chieftaincy disputes everywhere in the country but the underlining factor is not to settle them through violence but through dialogue and approved channels of seeking redress,” he pointed out.
The District Police Commander, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Edward Tetteh Addo, explained to the Daily Graphic that last Friday members of the Lebu Gate had held a press conference on the Vice-President’s visit to the area.
According to him, the aggrieved Lebu Gate members claimed that they had not been officially invited to the ceremony and wondered why they had been excluded.
ASP Addo intimated that the DISEC convened a meeting to resolve the matter, during which the Lebu Gate members assured the DISEC of maximum co-operation to make the ceremony successful.
He explained that the dispute between the two factions started when the then Buipewura, Chinchanku, died four years ago.
He noted that the Northern Regional House of Chiefs adjudicated over the case and gave its judgement in favour of Buipewura Jinapor II, to the dislike of the Lebu Gate faction.
ASP Addo stated that the members of the Lebu Gate, in protest against the judgement, had appealed to the National House of Chiefs for another hearing on the matter that was still pending.
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