STORY: Zakaria Alhassan, Tamale & Musah Jafaru, Accra
Chieftaincy and land disputes in two villages in the Northern and Greater Accra regions exploded into violent clashes and mayhem when a group of irate youth decided to take the law into their own hands.
Garizhegu, a quiet farming community in the Tamale North Constituency of the Northern Region, was turned into a scene of anarchy last Monday when the newly enskinned chief of the area, Andani Yakubu, was tortured to death, while at Danchira, near Weija in the Greater Accra Region, a clash between supporters of two rival chiefs resulted in the death of three persons and serious injuries to another person.
Those killed at Danchira were Nii Djabeng Armah, middle-aged, Aboi Tettey, in his early 30s, and one Abu, middle-aged. The injured person is Nii Saka Mustapha Addo, in his 40s.
The casualties suffered from gunshot, machete and stone wounds.
According to the Northern Regional Police Commander, ACP Angwubutoge Awuni, the chief of Garizhegu, who was on a motorbike, was attacked at Garizhegu while he was on his way from Nangbagu, a nearby village.
He was allegedly tortured to death by the unidentified youth and his motorbike, which was set on fire in the process, placed on him.
The remains of the chief are currently at the morgue of the Tamale Teaching Hospital awaiting autopsy.
A number of houses were also burnt in the attack.
Most residents of the community have deserted the area, while the police have stepped up their presence there to forestall any further disturbances.
So far, 46 suspects have been rounded up, while four locally manufactured guns and some implements have been retrieved by the police.
ACP Awuni said the suspects would later be screened and those found culpable subsequently charged.
The commander explained that about 7 p.m. on Monday, the police received information to the effect that there was pandemonium at Garizhegu and when his men rushed there they saw the deceased, with the burnt motorbike on his battered body.
He indicated that the deceased had been enskinned as the Garizhegu Naa on March 14, this year by the Sagnari Naa, who has jurisdiction over the village.
That development, however, did not go down well with a section of the people in the village who protested against the enskinment.
As a result, the late chief had been living outside the village since his instalment.
According to ACP Awuni, when the irate youth got wind of his presence in the area on Monday, they laid ambush and eventually attacked him when he got there.
Police investigations are ongoing.
Meanwhile, the people of Zuhayi North, a suburb of Yendi, are yet to come to terms with the gruesome murder of a 60-year-old widow, Bibata Alhassan, who was allegedly hacked to death by her rival’s son.
The suspect, Sofo Alhassan, 27 and crippled in the right leg, is on the run.
According to ACP Awuni, the incident occurred about 7:45 p.m. on Monday when the deceased was attending to the call of nature outside the house.
He said the suspect followed her and allegedly hit his stepmother with an implement, after which he butchered her with a machete.
An eyewitness who rushed to the scene to apprehend the suspect later abandoned him to attend to the deceased, who was then struggling on the ground for survival.
ACP Awuni indicated that the police were yet to ascertain the motive behind the murder, since, according to the suspect’s brother, Alhassan did not behave abnormally, nor did he show any open animosity towards the deceased before the incident.
The police, therefore, appealed to the general public to help in apprehending the suspect to face the full rigours of the law.
Briefing the Daily Graphic in Accra yesterday, the Weija District Police Commander, ASP Kwame Asari, said the bodies of the three dead persons in the violent clashes between the rival chiefs Nii Akrama Ayikai II and Nii Kwame Amo II at Denkyira had been taken to the Police Hospital for autopsy.
He said the police had picked seven suspects for interrogation.
He said following the clashes, most of the men had fled the area, leaving behind women and children.
Meanwhile, the police have maintained a heavy presence in the area, while investigations have been intensified.
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