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The Regent of Sang in the Mion District of the Northern Region is currently battling for his life at the Tamale Teaching Hospital after he was reportedly kidnapped and brutalized by armed men from the Gbewaa Palace.
He is currently at the accident and emergency unit receiving treatment for head injuries and internal complications he suffered from the beatings.
A health worker anonymously said the regent was in critical condition.
A relative of the regent who confirmed the incident said the regent was kidnapped on Wednesday night, at about 9 pm, at his palace, by six men armed who introduced themselves as palace guards and were sent by the overlord of Dagbon, Yaa Naa Abukari Mahama II.
“They [armed men] came to the palace, six of them with guns, and went straight to the regent’s room who by that time was about to sleep. They told him they were sent by the Yaa Naa to get him out of the palace because he will be installing a new chief tomorrow Thursday”, the relative narrates.
“I was not in the room but I heard the regent attempted to resist and that was what got them irritated. Then they started to beat him. He was beaten for several minutes to the point where he became weak before he was taken away by the men. No one in the whole community came to his rescue, not even his close neighbors. At one point, the regent cried like a baby but not a single person came out to at least find out what was happening to the regent”, the relative adds.
The armed men were alleged to have also taken with them a huge sum of money and firearms belonging to the regent.
The regent himself who managed to speak to relatives around him said, he was taken to an unknown location where the beatings continued until he passed out.
He said the armed men accused him of disrespecting the authority of the Yaa Naa by refusing to organize and perform the funeral of his late father, who died years ago, to pave the way for him [the Yaa Naa] to enskin a new chief for Sang.
Sources say the Yaa Naa took the action after several failed appeals to get the regent to perform the funeral of his late father and vacate the palace.
The Regent, according to information, is alleged to have once replied to the Yaa Naa that he could not be forced by anybody to perform his father’s funeral and that such a decision rest solely on the family and elders of his late father.
This is not the first time the Yaa Naa has deployed palace militias to use force to carry out or enforce his orders in Dagbon.
Last year, the Yaa Naa sent armed men to seize a traditional drum from the Dakpemah palace in Tamale after his warnings to the Dakpemah to stop playing the drum at his palace.
Although the place guards from Yendi succeeded in seizing the drum, gunfire exchanges later ensued in the vicinity leading to the deployment of heavy security forces who still guard the palace to date.
The Yaa Naa however is yet to send his palace militias to Nanton, Dimabi, Yong Dakpemah, and other Abudu-dominated communities, where his authority is being challenged.
Many people have described Yaa Naa’s approach as inappropriate and lawless.
The Gbewaa palace was not available for comments.
Meanwhile, the Yaa Naa has enskinned the chief of Gburimani as the new chief of Sang. The new chief of Sang is the biological father of the Gbewaa palace secretary.
The new chief has since taken up his skin in Sang after he was accompanied to the community by heavily armed police and military personnel.
In a related development, the Yaa Naa has also enskinned a new chief of Nyankpala although the funeral of the late NyankpaLanalana is yet to be performed.
There were gunshots by disgruntled supporters of the regent as the new chief was being accompanied into the town by security men.
The security men have since taken over the palace of the regent who accompanied to information has fled to an unknown destination.
The Yaa Naa had a frosty relationship with the immediate late Nyankpala before his death.
The late Nyankpal-Lana had accused the Yaa Naa who was by then the chief of Savelugu of conspiring with the NPP government and the committee of the three eminent chiefs to shortchange the Andani Family.