Bawku: Help find missing 7 persons last seen in Burkina Faso – Ayariga to Foreign Affairs Ministry

The Bawku Central MP, Mahama Ayariga has written to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, requesting assistance to locate and secure the return of seven residents of Bawku being held in Burkina Faso.

The seven according to the MP are residents of the communities of Bador and Tampizua in Bawku Municipality who are believed to have been arrested by the military authorities in Burkina Faso.

He noted that despite every effort “we have been unable to locate them and secure their return back to Ghana.”

These residents of Bawku include:
1. Abdulai Bagare
2. Mumuni Seidu
3. Issaka Nyikabo
4. Abdu_Kadir Salifu
5. Jebrilu Braimah
6. Bande Mamudu
7. Bande Shaibu
Mr Ayariga explained that the missing seven crossed over into Burkina Faso on Friday, 13th of October, 2023 to Bittou District in Burkina Faso with the assistance of the Assembly Member for Kanyere a suburb of Mogande also in Bittu District in Burkina Faso. The Assembly Member is called Adamah Bidigah.

He explained further that Fulani herdsmen grazed cattle belonging to the missing persons in a village called Kanyere in the Bittu District on the Burkina Faso side of the border between Bawku in Ghana and Burkina Faso.

Military men came to the area and fired warning shots and the Fulani men run away and left the cattle. Two Fulani men are reported to have died in the incident. The Burkina Faso military drove the cattle to Bittu District capital (Bittu).

Subsequently, announcements were made that the owners of the cattle should come and identify them so they will hand the cattle back to them. The Assembly Man for Kanyere, Adamah Bidigah, conveyed the message of the announcement across to the Ghana side.

The missing persons took a letter of introduction from the Municipal Chief Executive of Bawku Municipality and took along to Bittu to claim the animals.

The Assembly Member for Kanyere directed them to the location of the animals. The location was identified as Nohow, a village also in the Bittu District.

The missing persons set off to the said location with the aim of identifying their cattle for retrieval. They were last seen standing with Burkina Faso military personnel on the road to Noaho village.

Other claimants of cattle headed to Noaho claim they saw them standing with the Burkina Faso military personnel under circumstances that appeared as if they were being interrogated by the military personnel but everyone was afraid to interfere so they all passed them by.

The seven missing persons have since not been located.

The MP said he has asked senior Ghanaian military personnel to look into the matter but all efforts have yielded no results.

He has also tried using former Burkina Faso Members of Parliament in the ECOWAS Parliament where he served with them and there has not been any positive results.

It is for this reason that, he is requesting the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to activate the diplomatic channels with the military authorities in Burkina Faso to locate and return the missing persons.

—Classfmonline