Lawyers of rival Bawku chief Alhaji Seidu Abagre have sued the Ministry of the Interior and the Director General of the National Intelligence Bureau over his alleged continuous detention.
His lawyers argue that it is unlawful, that he has been in detention for two weeks without access to a legal representation.
Alhaji Seidu, the rival chief in the Bawku Chieftaincy dispute, involving the Mamprusi and Kusasis, was removed from Bawku, as part of recommendations in the Otumfuo Mediation report.
The Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) removed Alhaji Seidu Abagre from Bawku following recommendations contained in the mediation report by the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, on the long-running chieftaincy dispute in the area.
The operation, according to the Minister of the Interior, Muntanka Mohammed-Mubarak took place on December 24, 2025, as part of steps taken by the state to carry out the recommendations of the mediation presented to President John Dramani Mahama by the Asantehene on December 16, 2025 at the Jubilee House on December 16, 2025.
It recommended that Alhaji Abagre be recalled to Nalerigu by the Nayiri to take up another traditional role. As an alternative, the report stated that he could remain in Bawku as a private citizen without laying claim to the title of Bawku Naba.
Representing him in Court, his legal team led by Lawyer Martin Kpebu, said his client had been detained without access to lawyer, family and other allies.
“It is unlawful and unconstitutional for him to be kept at the NIB, without any form of access. Our laws say a person should be arraigned in 48 hours after an arrest, but this didn’t go that way, and that is against his rights,” he argued.
He also questioned the grounds under which he has been kept in detention.
“We hear he has been kept at the NIB, and we don’t know under which grounds and why, because his offenses, if any, have not even been read to him, and he’s just been kept there,” Kpebu said.
The legal team was in court to present a Habeas Corpus application, but that was postponed.
Habeas corpus application is an order from the court to compel the respondents to produce the man. The Judge, her ladyship Halima El-Alawa Abdul Basit, said she needed time to appreciate the facts of the case.
The Case has been adjourned to Monday, January 12,2026, at 9am, to determine the application.
