Personnel of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) have removed Alhaji Seidu Abagre, the rival claimant to the Bawku chieftaincy from Bawku Township in the Upper East Region.
His removal according to the Ministry of Interior was in direct implementation of a key recommendation from the mediation report presented by Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II on the protracted Bawku chieftaincy dispute.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, December 24, 2025, the Minister for the Interior, Muntaka Mohammed-Mubarak, confirmed the development.
“This afternoon, personnel of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) removed Alhaji Seidu Abagre from Bawku, pursuant to the recommendations of the Otumfuo Asantehene Osei Tutu II mediation report regarding the Bawku affair,” the statement read.
“Alhaji Seidu Abagre is safe in the care of the security agencies,” the statement added.
This follows the government’s full endorsement of the Otumfuo-mediated report, which was presented to President John Dramani Mahama on December 16, 2025, and formally accepted on December 17.
The report recommended that Alhaji Seidu Abagre, who was installed as a rival Bawku Naba by the Mamprusi faction, be recalled to Nalerigu, the seat of the Overlord of Mamprugu (the Nayiri), to assume an alternative traditional role with state support. Alternatively, he could remain in Bawku as an ordinary citizen but without posing as the Bawku Naba.
The mediation process, which aimed to resolve the decades-long ethnic and chieftaincy conflict between the Kusasi and Mamprusi communities, reaffirmed Naba Asigri Abugrago Azoka II as the lawful Bawku Naba, in line with Supreme Court rulings and existing laws.
The Bawku conflict is historically traced to competing claims over the Bawku skin.
Meanwhile, the government has announced a GH¢1 billion Bawku Revitalisation Fund to support reconstruction, infrastructure development, and economic recovery in the area, acknowledging the severe human, social, and economic toll of the protracted violence.
While the unconfirmed reports of sporadic gunshots in the area following the eviction have emerged, though no official comment has been made on potential casualties.