Family members of Abdallah Alabaani, a 20-year-old farmer, are demanding justice for his death after he was reportedly shot and killed by a soldier on operational duties last Monday. Abdullah’s bullet-riddled body is at the Tamale Teaching Hospital morgue where he was rushed to. The deceased was reportedly shot at close range by the said military officer on internal security operation in the area only identified as Aboagye. Abdullah was subsequently rushed to the Tamale Teaching Hospital but died during attempts by doctors of the facility to remove a number of bullets that were still lodged in his body. According to his relations, he was among dozens of community members who resisted attempts to drag their grandfather, one Gunlana, to Gushiegu, over reports of his refusal to pay allegiance to an opposing chief of Kpatinga enskinned by the Kampakuya Naa, Abudulai Andani Yakubu. According to them, they still recognized Natogmah Ziblim as chief of Kpatinga under the skin name Kpatinlana Natogmah Ziblim and as such vowed to defy the authority of the rival chief. That, according to sources, infuriated the chief of Gushiegu who, with the help of powers from some quarters in government, allegedly deployed the military to the area to forcibly summon him. This led to a scuffle, resulting in the shooting. Alabaani’s family accused the military of bias in the discharge of their duties in the area, appealing to the military high command to bring the said Aboagye to book for his unprofessional conduct. They insisted that the gruesome murder of their brother could not be attributed to any breach of peace in the area since he did nothing to warrant the gunshot which resulted in his death. At the time of filing this report, the body was yet to be released to the family for burial but they indicated their readiness to lodge an official complaint with the police. It would be recalled that there are two rival chieftaincy factions in Kpatinga near Gushiegu which clash intermittently. The Bolinlana, Mahamadu Abdulai Regent of the late Ya-Naa Mahamadu Abdulai IV, enskinned Natogmah Ziblim as chief of Kpatinga under the skin name Kpatinlana Natogmah Ziblim. While he was being enskinned, the Kampakuya Abudulai Andani Yakubu was reported to have at the same time enskinned one Kunkonlana as chief of the same area. After returning from the enskinment ceremony and performing the mandatory rituals, a combined team of armed military and police personnel stormed Kaptinga and arrested Kpatinlana Natogmah Ziblim. Though he had since been released without a charge and forcibly ejected from the palace by the military, making way for his rival to occupy, majority of residents including sub-chiefs insisted they would not recognize his authority. It also comes in the wake of continuous threat by the Abudu Royal family to go ahead and perform outstanding funerals of deceased chiefs under their line to facilitate the eskinment of respective successors. They indicated that they no longer recognized the authority of the Kampakuya Naa as regent of Dagon and all sub-chiefs he enskined within the period he held the fort after the demise of his late father. This is as a result of the alleged continuous flouting of the roadmap to peace by the regent, Kampakuya Naa Abudulai Andani Yakubu who, despite earlier threats, allegedly went ahead to perform some funerals and enskined chiefs, in sharp contravention of the agreement. The Abudus accordingly claimed they had nullified all enskinment done by the Kampakuya and insisted they would go ahead to enskin new persons to occupy a number of vacant skins in the Dagbon state to equal the number of persons he enskinned. They expressed their displeasure over the performance of the funeral rites of the late chief of Savelugu and subsequent enskinment of a new chief, accusing government for its involvement in violating Clause ‘F’ of the roadmap to peace. The Abudus said no amount of negotiations could stop them from enskinning chiefs since government watched while the Kampakuya Naa breached the roadmap to peace.