The Bolgatanga Municipality had been peaceful and many had counted it among the most peaceful areas in the country, until a disturbance erupted last Saturday night as gunshots were heard in an area within the municipality.
Seven persons – three females and four males – sustained various degrees of injury but had been responding to treatment.
On that night – when many activities, including an Awards ceremony and Weekend Old Timers’ Jam were taking place in the Atulbabisi suburb of the municipality – the gunshots reportedly halted all activities as people ran for cover.
On Sunday morning at 6:30 am, the police arrested a young man who had fired a locally manufactured pistol about 20 meters away from the Sacred Royal Stone, where police and military personnel were stationed. The young man, according to the police, had disguised himself as though he was mad. The locally manufactured gun was retrieved after he had allegedly thrown it away.
The Atulbabisi suburb is where the two royal families fighting over the Bolgatanga paramount skin reside. They live there with their followers and there have been attempts to clash on more than one occasion. The police have confirmed that the gunshots and attacks were linked to the ongoing chieftaincy dispute in the municipality.
It is not clear what started the disturbance, which has so far seen some houses around the Apex Bank either completely or partially burnt.
Some public properties, including electricity pre-paid meters, have also been destroyed.
DAILY GUIDE has learnt that many of the Atulbabisi residents are living in fear, while those who have relatives in other suburbs, including women with babies, have fled their homes and may stay away for a long time.
At the time of filing this report, the entire Bolgatanga municipality was calm, as military and police personnel had been deployed all over the area. The Upper East Regional Police Commander, DCOP Yao Afeku, had given the assurance that his outfit would be on the ground to protect lives and properties in the municipality.
According to him, no one had been arrested yet and investigations were still underway.
The Officer Commanding, Airborne Force in Tamale, Lt. Colonel Joseph Malik Punamane, toured the Atulbabisi area and visited some affected homes yesterday. He has appealed to the people from both sides of the chieftaincy divide to exercise patience, tolerate each other and desist from taking the law into their hands.
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