The High Court in Accra has adjourned to January 12, 2026, to deal with an ex-parte application seeking to compel the government to produce Alhaji Seidu Abagre who has been removed from Bawku before the Court to justify his continues detention.
As part of the implementation of recommendations made by Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II’s mediation committee to help resolve the long-running Bawku chieftaincy and security crisis, the Applicant has been removed from the area in an operation carried out by the Ghana Armed Forces.
He was selected to be the overlord of the Mamprugu kingdom, but the Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II mediation committee recommended among other things that he be removed from the conflict-prone town of Bawku as part of the implementation of recommendations.
Following this, he was picked up by the military.
Through his lawyers, led by Martin Kpebu, he filed an application for Habeas Corpus, seeking to compel the Interior Minister Anas the National Intelligence Bureau to produce him before the court and justify his continues detention.
In Court on Thursday, January 8, 2026, when the ex-parte application was called, the presiding judge, Justice Halimah El-Alawa Abdul-Basit, said she had only been assigned the case and would need time to familiarize herself with it.
“I was somewhere doing my additional duties when the registrar informed me of this instant application,” the Judge said. “I see that it was filed as far back as January 5,” the Court said.
“But I will want to properly appreciate the content of the application, and I will plead with counsel to give me some time to do the needful,” the judge said.
Lead Counsel for the Applicant, Martin Kpebu, in his response, said, “We are obliged, and we cannot say we will not allow the court time to review the application before it is heard.”
However, he said, “In adjourning, we pray that My Lady will consider the case of Martin Kpebu (4) v Attorney General (4), 2017/2020 SCGLR1, where the Supreme Court held that ’48 hours is 48 hours, and that where the case concerns the personal liberty of an accused or a suspect or a detainee, the court can sit on public holidays and weekends.”
He said, as part of the decision, “the Supreme Court gave the Chief Justice six months to rollout the administrative procedure for implementing the decision.”
“Without going into the merit of the case”, the Judge asked Counsel for the Applicant if he could “furnish the Court with any inhumane, cruel or degrading treatment on the Applicant pursuant to Article 15(2)(a),” as an allegation of torture was made in their processes.
In his response, Counsel said, “We say that the denial of access to lawyers and more family members is what constitutes the mental torture.”
Counsel further submitted that the Applicant’s first son, Baba Seidu Abdulai, who was in court, was the only one given a bit of access, which was woefully inadequate, especially since he is not a lawyer.
The court hearing was characterized by heavy attendance from family members, relatives, and sympathizers of the applicant.
Justice Abdul-Basit has since adjourned the application to Monday, January 12, 2026, for hearing.
Source: www.kumasimail.com
