12 persons fined GH¢57,600 over land dispute

The Nalerigu District Magistrate Court has convicted and sentenced 12 persons to a fine of four hundred penalty units, equivalent to GH¢4,800 each or, in default, to spend 18 months in imprisonment over a land dispute in Gbalo near Chereponi in the North East Region.

The convicts are Sulemana A. Mumin, Salifu Abdulai, Sulemana Seidu, Alidu Munkaila, Adam Naaba, Alhassan Nasoma, Bawa Yakubu Ibn Mohammed, Iddrisu Ibrahim, Bawa Salisu, Imoro Bamor, Adam Nasoma and Abdulai Yussif.

They were on April 9, 2025, convicted by the court on two counts of conspiracy to commit crime and causing unlawful damage.

Fact

On July 25, 2022, the convicts who are residents of the Gbalo community near Chereponi and had a land dispute with another community called Sagong/Kukpong mobilised and attacked the Sagong/Kukpong community, set houses and foodstuff ablaze and caused damage to several properties of the Sagong/Kukpong community.

On August 24, 2022, the North East Regional Police Command, through an intelligence-led operation, arrested the convicts and arraigned them before the court.

After almost a three-year trial, the District Magistrate Court, presided by His Worship Simon Kofi Bediako, found the accused persons guilty and convicted them on two counts of conspiracy to commit crime and causing unlawful damage.

The court, accordingly, sentenced them. Meanwhile, the police in the North East Region have assured the public that it will not relent in its efforts to bring perpetrators of violence to book and advised residents to use peaceful and legal means to resolve conflicts and disputes in their various communities.