The Northern Regional Secretariat of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has said that the lack of peace in Dagbon in the past was degenerated by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government under the watch of President Akufo Addo, who was then the Attorney General “with his lackadaisical and mockish response to prosecuting the suspects at the time”.
The party in a statement sighted by Awake News signed by the Regional Secretary, Mohammed Abdul-Salam, was reacting to Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia’s statement when he was speaking at the annual Bamba Quranic recitation in Tamale that the Akufo-Addo lef NPP brought the current peace being enjoyed by Dagbo and that the Dagbon people should pay their debt of gratitude to President Nana Akufo Addo with votes in the 2020 elections.
The Vice President’s claims seem not to have done down well with the NDC forcing Regional Secretariate to remind him that the NPP watched on as the peace degenerated “with the callous murder of Na Yakubu II and his retinue” at the time that the President Akufo-Addo was the Anthony General.
“We are surprised at the posturing of the NPP and the Vice President especially considering the fact that the peace in Dagbon degenerated under the watch of President Akufo Addo as Attorney General with his lackadaisical and mockish response to prosecuting the suspects at the time.” – He said
Mr. Abdul-Salam has accused the then NPP of watching on whiles callously, murder of Na Yakubu II.
The NPP watched on as the peace degenerated with the callous murder of Na Yakubu II and his retinue.
He continued to allege that the former Northern Regional Chairman of the NPP, Zoosalli Lana Haruna Tia Sulemana has “over the past six months or so been holding himself as chief of Nanton even though the Yaa Naa enskinned Alhaji M. B. Bawah as chief of the area” yet the Vice President who is the Chairman of the Police Council seats and watch.
“Indeed, a member of the NPP and former Northern Regional Chairman of the party, Zoosalli Lana Haruna Tia Sulemana has over the past six months or so been holding himself as chief of Nanton even though the Yaa Naa enskinned Alhaji M. B. Bawah as chief of the area. Chief Bawah has since failed to assume his new role because Zoosalli Lana Haruna Tia and his cohorts have taken the Nanton area hostage”.
“Ironically the Vice President who is the chairman of the Police Council is not interested in using the police to restore order and normalcy in Nanton but rather interested in making a political capital out of the installation of a new Yaa Naa whose authority is being challenged by some of his own party members”.
For him, the NPP government cannot take credit for the peace in Dagbon, because they took part in the whole process of Dagbon misunderstanding.
Read the full statement:
NDC Press statement in response to the call by Vice President Bawumia to Dagbon to support Nana Addo in the 2020 elections
September 25, 2019
Over the weekend Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, while speaking at the annual Bamba Quranic recitation in Tamale, called on Dagbon to pay their debt of gratitude to President Nana Addo with votes in the 2020 elections for the peace the President supposedly restored in Dagbon.
While enumerating successes chalked by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government, Dr. Bawumia claimed that after several years of lack of peace in the area, and Dagbon with a new Yaa Naa, Dagombas are now living in peace and for which reason Dagbon should support the NPP in next year’s general elections.
We are surprised at the posturing of the NPP and the Vice President especially considering the fact that the peace in Dagbon degenerated under the watch of President Akufo Addo as Attorney General with his lackadaisical and mockish response to prosecuting the suspects at the time.
The NPP watched on as the peace degenerated with the callous murder of Na Yakubu II and his retinue.
It is even more preposterous for the NPP to be playing politics with the Dagbon conflict when it is undoubtedly clear how fragile the situation still is.
Indeed, a member of the NPP and former Northern Regional Chairman of the party, zoosalli Lana Haruna Tia Sulemana has over the past six months or so been holding himself as chief of Nanton even though the Yaa Naa enskinned Alhaji M. B. Bawah as chief of the area. Chief Bawah has since failed to assume his new role because Zoosalli Lana Haruna Tia and his cohorts have taken the Nanton area hostage.
Ironically the Vice President who is the chairman of the Police Council is not interested in using the police to restore order and normalcy in Nanton but rather interested in making a political capital out of the installation of a new Yaa Naa whose authority is being challenged by some of his own party members.
We wish to remind the Vice President that genuine peace can only return to Dagbon if government and their assigns begin to respect the authority of the Yaa Naa, perhaps starting with the arrest and prosecution of Zoosalli Lana Haruna Tia for threatening the peace in the Nanton area.
We further wish to remind the Vice President that Dagbon has come this far albeit with uneasy calm, largely as a result of a shift in entrenched positions by the Abudu and the Andani families, and the arbitration acumen of the Committee of Eminent Chiefs that survived the regimes of Presidents Kufour, Atta Mills and John Mahama. The Andanis had rescinded their decision to prevent the Abudus from performing the funeral of Na Mahamadu Abdulai at the Gbewah palace while the Abudus agreed not to contest the choice of an Andani as new Yaa Naa, paving the way for the Eminent Committee to conclude its work.
Turning around to claim credit for a fragile peace that is further being threatened by their own is not only hypocritical and disingenuous, but dishonest on the part of the Vice President and the NPP.
What Dr. Bawumia should know is that it was the Kufour-led NPP government whose inaction led to the present crisis, a crisis partly traced to President Nana Addo’s father’s regime in 1969.
History shows how Akufo Addo’s father mismanaged the security in Yendi leading to the killing of many Andanis and the installation of Mahamadu Abdulai as Yaa Naa. This was the genesis of the crisis in Dagbon.
Lastly, we see the Vice President’s call as diversionary from the numerous corruption cases, abuse of power and general hardships facing Ghanaians and we call on Dagbon to treat his call with the utmost contempt it deserves.
Thank you.
Signed
MOHAMMED ABDUL-SALAM
Regional Secretary
0208282688
By: Hamida Shawwal / awakenewsroom.com
