The Otumfuo Report on the Bawku conflict mediation has 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.
He said the laws recognising the status of Zugran Asigri Abugrago Azoka II must be enforced by the Government of the Republic of Ghana until altered in accordance with the 1992 Constitution or reviewed by the Supreme Court.
Otumfuo said the Government must apply the law without discrimination against any person challenging the authority of the Bawku Naaba.
This, he noted, was critical to the restoration and maintenance of peace in the Kusasi Traditional Area.
Otumfuo said he had concluded that the path to lasting peace lay in the enforcement of the existing legal position, as established under the Constitution and affirmed by the Supreme Court, which had ruled that the matter should not be relitigated.
He said Zugran Asigri Abugrago Azoka II had been a member of the National House of Chiefs for about 40 years, had been duly gazetted, and that his right to rule should not be disturbed except through a judicially and constitutionally recognised process.
“If the pronouncement of the Supreme Court appears not clear enough, a remedy may be sought, if available, for clarification by the Supreme Court,” Otumfuo said.
“Either way, Bawku and its environs will be assured of sustainable and enduring peace.”
The Asantehene thanked President John Dramani Mahama and his predecessor, former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, for the confidence reposed in him by entrusting him with the mediation of the Bawku conflict.
He also commended the Nayiri, the Bawku Naaba and the various chiefs and community heads who participated in the mediation process for their cooperation.
