It, therefore, stands to reason that if any persons should be
prosecuted, it should be those, who were in charge of the State
Security Apparatus at the time for criminal negligence of duty and not
the small flies.
One may ask for the reasons why this Writer came to this
conclusion. To answer this question let us take an odyssey through the
files of Ghana News Agency to see whether the conclusion reached by
this Writer is credible.
On March 25 2002 GNA reported: “A dusk to dawn curfew has been
imposed on the Yendi Township and surrounding areas following renewed
chieftaincy conflict between the Abudu and Andani gates to the Ya- Na
Skin of Dagbon Traditional Area, according to first reports.”
Later the same day the Agency filed this report: “Two people have
been injured following exchange of gunfire between supporters of the
Andani and Abudu gates to Ya-Na Skin of the Dagbon Traditional Area.
“The District Chief Executive of Yendi, Mr Mohammed Habibu Tijani
told the Ghana News Agency in a telephone interview that the two have
been admitted to the Yendi Government Hospital.
“He said the two sides exchanged fire for about five minutes.
“Mr Tijani said he was going round the town to assess the
situation adding that the Police had not made any arrest yet.”
Mr Tijani had telephoned this Writer to complain about a story
he claimed was aired on the Savannah Radio of Ghana Broadcasting
Corporation (GBC) in Tamale that said he had run away from Yendi. He
said he was a brave man and would not run away. This Writer told him
he had just received the story about the fighting from Yendi and was
still working on it so the GNA could not have been the source of the
story he was complaining about. This Writer then took the opportunity
to interview him, hence the story above.
On the same day the Agency sent an update: “A dusk to dawn curfew
has been imposed on Yendi in the Northern Region due to mounting
tension between the Andani and Abudu chieftaincy gates to Ya-Na Skin
of the Dagbon Traditional Area.
“Two people sustained gunshot wounds when the two factions
clashed on Monday morning forcing the Northern Regional Security
Committee to deploy armed soldiers and police to the area to stop the
violence.
“The Regional Security Committee has also banned the celebration
of this year’s annual Bugum (Fire) Festival at Yendi that was expected
to take place on Monday night.
“Tension has been mounting between the two gates since last
January over the celebration of the Muslim Eid ul-Adha festival.
“The Andani Gate that is currently occupying the Dagbon Skin was
said not to have been happy when the rival Abudu Gate celebrated the
festival in the traditional way at the house of its regent.
“Since then, there had been rumours of an imminent attack and
counter-attack by the rival chieftaincy gates, which boiled over into
an exchange of gunfire on Monday morning.
“The clash was precipitated when one of the factions allegedly
attacked a young man from the rival camp and destroyed his bicycle.
“The military was quickly deployed into town and they managed to
control the situation.
“It is to avert a possible clash during the fire festival that
the District Security Committee and the Regional Security Committee
cancelled the festival and imposed a dusk to dawn curfew.
“There had been a long-standing dispute over the succession to
the Ya-Na Skin.
“The District Chief Executive of Yendi, Mr Mohammed Habibu Tijani
told the Ghana News Agency in a telephone interview that two people
have been admitted to the Yendi Government Hospital.
“He said the two sides exchanged fire for about five minutes (on Monday).
“Mr Tijani said he was going round the town to assess the
situation adding that the Police had not made any arrest yet.”
The “Daily Graphic” also got the story and interviewed the
Minister of The Interior about it. He said there was peace in Yendi,
refer to 26th March 2002 Edition of the “Daily Graphic” page three
column three – “In a related development, The Minister of Interior,
Alhaji Malik Alhassan Yakubu has denied that there was fighting in
Yendi, which has resulted in casualties.
He explained that the
decision of both the REGSEC and the Yendi DISEC to impose the curfew
was to forestall the clash of contending factions in the town during
the celebration of the festival. Alhaji Malik Yakubu, who is also the
Member of Parliament for Yendi, said since the threats to breach the
peace were real and the protection of life and property and the peace
and security of the area were of paramount concern to the regional and
district authorities, the best thing in the circumstances was to act
the way they did.”
The question here is how could the Minister of the Interior, who
is also the MP for Yendi not to know what was happening in his
constituency? To this Writer this amounted to “criminal lack of
knowledge”. He could easily have telephoned home to find out about
what was happening.
On 26th March 2002 the GNA reported: “Sporadic gunshots have been
going on at Yendi in the Northern Region since Tuesday morning despite
the presence of armed soldiers and police.
“In the process, one person Musah Abdulai was wounded, bringing
to three the total number of injured persons since the skirmishes
between the Andani and Abudu chieftaincy gates of Dagbon started on
Monday.
“The Deputy Northern Regional Police Commander, Mr John Yali told
the Ghana News Agency in Tamale on Tuesday that Yakubu Mahama alias
Fuu Mahama and Abdulai Issahaku alias Bona Yuu were wounded during the
Monday’s clash.
“Fuu Mahama was shot in the thigh and Bona Fuu in the knee. They
are all on admission at the Yendi Hospital.
“Mr Yali said there were no incidents on Monday night and that
both factions respected the curfew.
“He said security personnel were guarding vital installations at Yendi.
“He could not, however, tell why the telephone link to Yendi has
been broken.
“Tension continues to mount at Yendi as supporters of both
factions in the dispute continue to pour in from surrounding villages.
“A dusk to dawn curfew was imposed on Yendi on Monday due to the
tension between the Andani and Abudu chieftaincy gates to Ya-Na Skin
of the Dagbon Traditional Area.
“The Northern Regional Security Committee deployed armed soldiers
and police to the area and banned the celebration of this year’s
annual Bugum (Fire) Festival at Yendi that was expected to take place
on Monday night.
“Tension had been mounting between the two gates since last
January over the celebration of the Muslim Eid ul-Adha festival.
“The Andani Gate that is currently occupying the Dagbon Skin was
said not to have been happy when the rival Abudu Gate celebrated the
festival in the traditional way at the house of its regent.
“Since then, there had been rumours of an imminent attack and
counter-attack by the rival chieftaincy gates, which boiled over into
an exchange of gunfire on Monday morning.
“The clash was precipitated when one of the factions allegedly
attacked a young man from the rival camp and destroyed his bicycle.
“The District Chief Executive of Yendi, Mr Mohammed Habibu Tijani
told the Ghana News Agency in a telephone interview on Monday that the
two sides exchanged fire for about five minutes.
“There has been a long-standing dispute over the succession to
the Ya-Na Skin.”
From the above it becomes clear that the National Security
apparatus was very much aware of the volatile situation and should
have deployed sufficient number of personnel to ensure the safety of
the people of Yendi but it did not do that as subsequent events would
reveal.
On that fateful Wednesday 27 March 2002, GNA reported: “Ya-Na
Yakubu Andani, Paramount Chief of the Dagbon Traditional Area was
killed in overnight fighting in Yendi, usually reliable sources told
the Ghana News Agency.
“A number of people are also reported killed in the fighting,
which erupted last Monday between the Andani and Abudu chieftaincy
gates to Ya-Na Skin.
Sporadic gunshots were heard during the whole of Tuesday despite
the presence of armed soldiers and police.
“By 1800 hours on Tuesday three persons: Musah Abdulai, Yakubu
Mahama alias Fuu Mahama and Abdulai Issahaku alias Bona Yuu had
received gunshot wounds and were on admission at the Yendi Government
Hospital.
“A dusk to dawn curfew was imposed on Yendi on Monday because of
the tense situation there.
“The Northern Regional Security Committee deployed armed soldiers
and police to the area and banned the celebration of this year’s
annual Bugum (Fire) Festival at Yendi that was to have taken place on
Monday night.
“Tension had been mounting between the two gates since last
January over the celebration of the Muslim Eid ul-Adha festival.
“The Andani Gate that is currently occupying the Dagbon Skin was
said not to have been happy when the rival Abudu Gate celebrated the
festival in the traditional way at the house of its regent.
“Since then, there had been rumours of an imminent attack and
counter-attack by the rival chieftaincy gates, which boiled over into
an exchange of gunfire on Monday morning.
“The clash was precipitated when one of the factions allegedly
attacked a young man from the rival camp and destroyed his bicycle.
“The District Chief Executive of Yendi, Mr Mohammed Habibu Tijani
told the Ghana News Agency in a telephone interview on Monday that the
two sides exchanged fire for about five minutes.
“There has been a long-standing dispute over the succession to
the Ya-Na Skin.
The Agency sent an update: “Ya-Na Yakubu Andani, Paramount Chief
of the Dagbon Traditional Area was killed in overnight fighting in
Yendi, a statement issued by the Minister of Information and
Presidential Affairs, Mr Jake Obetesbi- Lamptey in Accra said on
Wednesday.
“A number of people are also reported killed in the fighting,
which erupted last Monday between the Andani and Abudu chieftaincy
gates to Ya-Na Skin.
“People fleeing the area told the Ghana News Agency that the town
was littered with dead bodies and several houses around the Ya-Na’s
palace had been burnt down but that the palace was intact.
“There were sporadic gunshots on Tuesday morning and afternoon
but this intensified during the curfew hours and lasted throughout the
night.
“The security personnel, who were deployed to keep the peace,
were helpless as the two factions went on rampage.
“Tension is mounting in Tamale as people from both factions are
mobilising to go to Yendi, the capital of the Dagbon Traditional Area.
“More military reinforcement has been despatched from Tamale to Yendi.
“Telephone links to Yendi have been cut off since Tuesday.
“Meanwhile the Northern Regional Security Committee has been
meeting all day discussing how to contain the crisis.
Tears were uncontrollably streaming down the cheeks of this
Writer, while he was editing these stories. It was the second time in
his 34 years career as a journalist that he had shed tears in the
course of performing his duty. The first instance was at the
Bolgatanga Government Hospital during the outbreak of
cerebro-spinal-meningitis in 1997 when mothers were arriving at the
Hospital at about five minutes intervals with their children and after
the Nurses had examined them, wrote “D.O.A.”, which meant
“dead-on-arrival” in their notebooks.
While this Writer was editing the story above Mr Clemence Okumah,
a Sub-Editor, asked him: “Sir, since when did Governments announce the
death of Chiefs?” The question brought home forcefully to this Writer
that something was wrong and corrective measures were to be taken
immediately.
The Minister apparently did not take into consideration the
backlash to the announcement in the Dagbon Traditional Area. This
Writer quickly called the Tamale Office and directed a Reporter to go
and interview the Counsel of the Andani Gate, Mr Ibrahim Mahama about
the whereabouts of Ya-Na Yakubu Andani.
The GNA subsequently filed the story below, which made Andani Gate
Warriors, who were on their way to attack the Abudus in Yendi, to
return to Tamale. If the Andani Warriors had reached Yendi on that
fateful day the pogrom would have been unimaginable.
GNA reported: “Ya-Na Andani is Alive – Counsel – There are
conflicting reports that Ya-Na Yakubu Andani is still alive and not
dead as announced by the Minister of Information and Presidential
Affairs, Mr Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey.
“Counsel for the Andani gate in the Dagbon chieftaincy crisis Alhaji Ibrahim Mahama confirmed to the Ghana News Agency that the Ya-Na is alive but declined to disclose his whereabouts.
“He said the person who was beheaded at the palace was not the Ya-Na, but a mistaken identity by the mercenaries hired to kill him.
“Several residents of Tamale on hearing the news that the Ya-Na was still alive defied the curfew and trooped to Alhaji Mahama’s house to have first hand information about the Ya-Na.”
This Writer also had the duty to edit many of the stories GNA filed
from the sittings of the Wuaku Commission, that was subsequently set
up to investigate the Dagbon Regicide.
In all these it came out clearly that the assassination of Ya-Na
Yakubu Andani was as a result of the National Security Apparatus’
failure to do its work – the Wuaku Commission made this observation in
its final report.
Originally posted here: