UNEASY CALM AT BUIPE (PAGE 3, JAN 15, 2011)

BUIPE, the Central Gonja District capital in the Northern Region, is seemingly calm after the landmark ruling by the Tamale High Court declaring null and void the deskinment of the Chief for the area, Abdulai Jinapor.
According to the police, the security in the area had been on high alert since the decision by the Paramount Chief of the Gonja Traditional Area, Yagbonwura Tuntumba Sulemana Jakpa II, the traditional council and the registrar of the council in May last year to deskin the Buipewura, Abdulai Jinapor.
“Since the court passed its judgement on the matter on Thursday, we have beefed up security in the area to high alert and monitoring the situation closely,” Mr Ebenezer Tetteh, the Northern Regional Police PRO, told the Daily Graphic in Tamale.
He further said “the police will deal with any person or group that will disturb the fragile peace in the area”.
Justice Kwame Ansu Gyeabour, who presided over the matter, ruled that the Buipewura could not be deskinned by the defendants because they were not the kingmakers for the skin.
The court also upheld the Buipewura’s argument that he was not given a fair hearing before the supposed deskinment and awarded costs and general damages to the tune of GH¢6,400 against the defendants.
At the first ordinary meeting of the council at Damongo on May 13, 2010, an attempt was made to mediate the case between the Buipewura and one of his alleged antagonists, Monowura Akwasi Piesie, whom the former claimed to have deskinned for gross disrespect to his skin.
The mediation talks, however, turned acrimonious, leading to heated verbal exchanges between the Buipewura and his loyalists, on one side, and the Yagbonwura, the other chiefs and their supporters, on the other.
The Buipewura was alleged to have subsequently pulled a gun and fired warning shots, a charge he had since denied.
Following that development, the council decided to deskin the Buipewura for insubordination and gross disrespect to the council members.
In a statement signed by Yagbonwura Sulemana Jakpa and 12 other paramount chiefs of the Gonja Traditional Council at Damongo, the chiefs accused the Buipewura of “gross disrespect for the King of Gonja and the entire members of the Gonja Traditional Council by Buipewura Jinapor Abdulai Mahama II”.
The Buipewura, however, resorted to the court for redress.