Alhaji Seidu Abagre
A High Court in Accra yesterday remanded Alhaji Seidu Abagre, a claimant to the Bawku chieftaincy position, following the decision of the Attorney General to prefer criminal charges against him.
The embattled 78-year-old was escorted to the courtroom by heavily armed police and military officers numbering about 20, after spending more than three weeks in the custody of the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB).
The criminal charges were filed amid an ongoing civil case filed by his lawyers in the form of habeas corpus, after he had been kept in custody without any charges and without access to a lawyer of his choosing.
The state has argued that the detention was lawful as it was done on the back of an order issued by a court of competent jurisdiction.
Alhaji Seidu Abagre has been charged with one count of acting as a chief without qualification contrary to the Chieftaincy Act.
The state is accusing him of acting as the Bawku Naba when he is “not qualified to do so.”
It says he had himself declared as the Bawku Naba at a ceremony in Nalerigu on February 14, 2023, “knowing very well that he is not qualified to do so; whereupon he moved to reside in Bawku.”
He is also facing three other charges; provocation of riot, offensive conduct conducive to the breach of the peace, and fighting with weapons.
The retired teacher pleaded not guilty to all the four charges and his lawyer, Martin Kpebu, pleaded with the court to grant him bail pending the trial.
Mr. Kpebu, in his oral application, told the court that the accused had been in custody for the past 26 days without being told of any offense he has committed under the laws of Ghana “until we were given the charge sheet 20 minutes ago.”
He told the court that all misdemeanours carry punishment ranging from fine to up to three (3) years maximum imprisonment, “as such there is little incentive for the accused to contemplate absconding, which he does not intend to do anyway.”
Mr. Kpebu also argued that Alhaji Seidu Abagre does not have the means to interfere with investigations at all.
He disclosed that the accused is unwell, adding that “My lady will see how the accused had difficulty in walking when he was asked to move to the box. This was as a result of his ill health.”
The application for bail was opposed by Deputy Attorney General, Dr. Justice Srem-Sai, who argued that it is the desire of the republic that every person, including the accused person, is accorded all the incidents of the right to personal liberty as guaranteed by the constitution, “except that the right to personal liberty includes the duty of the republic to maintain public safety, peace and order.”
He admitted that the Bawku conflict is not new, and it will be unfair to attribute the cause of the long-standing conflict to the accused person.
He, however, indicated that it is also true that the latest version of this conflict is inextricably tied to the conduct and the position that the accused person finds himself in.
He, therefore, urged the court to remand the accused in custody of the NIB where he has access to his family, who have been with him since the day he was detained, and also has access to full medical service.
The court, presided over by Justice Halimah El-Alawa Abdul-Baasit, after listening to both lawyers, remanded Alhaji Seidu Abagre to reappear on February 2, 2026.
She ordered the Attorney General to ensure that the dignity of the accused is not violated and that he has access to medical treatment.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak