Speaking on the matter for the first time, President Akufo-Addo, on Sunday, 22nd July, 2018, at the sod-cutting ceremony of the 1-Village-1-Dam Integrated Agriculture with Renewable Energy for Poverty Eradication Project, in Savelugu, in the Northern Region, indicated that disturbances of such nature constitute a threat to the peace and development of the nation.
It will be recalled that last week, residents, predominantly youth from Asawase protested vehemently about the alleged killing of seven of their peers by the Police.
According to the youth, the seven were allegedly mistaken by the police for eight masked armed robbers who had earlier attacked a sprinter bus and, in the process, shot and killed a police officer at Ayirebikrom, near Manso Nkwanta, in the Amasie West District of the Ashanti Region.
“If we are talking about peace in Dagbon and in Savelugu, we are also to think about peace in our nation. Recently, events have occurred at the instigation of the Police that disturbed the peace of our country,” the President said.
He continued, “I have already spoken about what took place at the Midland Savings and Loans in East Legon, in Accra. The other day too, a tragedy occurred in Asawase. We are establishing a Committee of Inquiry to look into the events, and make recommendations as to the way forward.”
The President assured that “the recommendations that will come from the Committee will be one that will be scrupulously implemented and enforced by the government to make sure that incidents like that never happen again.”
Touching on the matters of peace in Dagbon, the President stressed peace was of the utmost importance if Dagbon was to develop.
“We need peace in Savelugu, and, above, all we also need peace in Dagbon. Even without the resolution of the conflict, look at the kind of initiatives that have been brought here. Can you imagine what is in store for Dagbon, if we hear that everything has come to a conclusion, full peace has been restored, the conflict has ended and everything is back to normal?”, he asked.
The President was, thus, hopeful that “this year, we will see the full resolution of the conflict.”