Personnel of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) have removed rival chief in the Bawku chieftaincy dispute, Alhaji Seidu Abagre from Bawku, as part of measures aimed at maintaining peace in the area.
According to a statement from the Ministry of the Interior, the action was carried out on Tuesday, December 24, 2025, in line with recommendations contained in the mediation report by the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, on the long-standing Bawku conflict.
The statement signed by Muntaka Mohammed Mubarak said Alhaji Seidu Abagre was safely taken into the custody of security agencies and is currently under their care.
“This afternoon, personnel of the Ghana Armed Forces removed Alhaji Seidu Abagre from Bawku, pursuant to the recommendations of the Otumfuo Asantehene Osei Tutu II mediation report regarding the Bawku affair. Alhaji Seidu Abagre is safe in the care of the security agencies,” the statement noted.
On December 16, the Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II presented the Bawku conflict mediation report to President John Dramani Mahama for consideration and further action.
Otumfuo, amongst others, recommended that Mr Seidu Abagre be recalled by the Nayiri and reassigned to play another traditional role at the Nayiri’s Palace in Nalerigu.
Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, the Asantehene, said he had been candid with his brother, the Nayiri, Naa Bohagu Abdulai Mahami Sheriga, that the purported enskinment of Mr Abagre as Bawku Naaba could not stand.
“I believe my brother the Nayiri has come to terms with the difficulties that will pose to achieving the lasting peace which he desires,” Otumfuo said during the presentation of the Bawku Chieftaincy Conflict Mediation Report to President John Dramani Mahama at the Presidency in Accra.
He said he had, from the inception of the mediation, restrained successive governments from effecting the arrest of Mr Abagre out of respect for the Nayiri.
“The final resolution of the Bawku matter requires that Mr Seidu Abagre be recalled to Nalerigu by the Nayiri to be reassigned to play another traditional role at the Palace of the Nayiri, assisted by the state,” Otumfuo said.
The Asantehene noted that alternatively, Mr Abagre might choose to remain in Bawku as an ordinary citizen of the community, but not to pose as the Bawku Naaba.
Otumfuo recommended that the Nayiri accept the current legal position recognising Zugran Asigri Abugrago Azoka II as the Chief of Bawku and Paramount Chief of the Kusasi Traditional Area.
“We chiefs, no matter how exalted, do not live above the Constitution of Ghana and the laws duly enacted and affirmed by the courts,” he said.