On Monday August 28, 2023, at about 0945 hours, a group of people in their numbers besieged the Tamale District Court One, disrupted court proceedings. They ended up chasing away the Magistrate, His Worship Mr. Amadu Issifu, clerks, staff and lawyers.
Police reinforcements went in, but the riotous mob, which armed themselves with sticks, stones and other offensive weapons, rather charged on them, disarmed one policeman off his sidearm and subjected him to severe beatings.
They blocked the entrance to the court to prevent the police from accessing the place, and resorted to the burning of lorry tyres. The police managed to enter the courtyard, but were pelted with stones. The crowd also vandalised the roofing and windows of the court building, and this led to a number of the personnel sustaining various degrees of injury.
As the mob overrun the premises and into the courtroom, the police resorted to the use of firearms, water cannon and successfully rescued the Magistrate to safer ground. Two civilians, Yakubu Mohammed and a female, however, sustained gunshot injuries in the foot and thigh respectively.
It all started when a group of people, who constituted themselves into a task force, went round to apprehend persons suspected to be trading in tramadol drugs in the Tamale Metropolis.
The group broke into the room of one Osman Alhassan in his absence, and allegedly took some boxes of tramadol drugs from the place.
The drugs were handed over to the police and investigations led to the arrest of Osman, who was arraigned. In the course of the trial, he was granted court bail.
The group and some youth chiefs did not, however, understand why the court would not incarcerate him, hence, mobilised and incited violence against the court.
