The late Ya Naa Yakubu Andani
The Abudu Royal Family has written to the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Country Representative in Ghana, calling his attention to activities of Andani Family which it described as customarily unlawful.
The Abudus accused the government of turning a blind eye to the activities and also providing security for the perpetration of the customary illegality in order to satisfy the Andanis.
The customary illegalities, the family explained, include the performance of funerals of chiefs and “installing Andani people as chiefs and appropriating lands all over Dagbon.”
The correspondence, which was authored by the Nanton Naa Sulley Alhassan, Bolin Lana Abdulai Mahamadu and Nbadagu Iddrisu Iddi stated that the “Abudu people saw this as an attempt by the Andani people to annihilate the Abudu gate completely and leave the Andani gate as the only ruling gate in Dagbon. Naturally the Abudu gate cannot sit down meekly to be destroyed and their gate totally made extinct in favour of the Andanis.”
The performance of funerals and the installation of chiefs by the Bolin Lana as the first son of a deceased Ya Na, Mahamadu IV was to express the existence of the Abudu Gate, the correspondence explained.
The chiefs, who were installed by the Andanis, the letter explained, were able to get to their places of reign not only peacefully but to the joy of their subjects, as soldiers were sent to harass chiefs installed by the Abudus.
The government, the Abudus claimed “was doing this to appease the Andanis so that they will continue to vote for them in the coming elections. The Abudus, the letter warned, would fight back if the government does not recognize that it has obligations to all Ghanaians to protect every one’s rights and interests and not be selective in this regard as it is doing now.
Information reaching the Abudus, the letter noted, suggests that the Andanis had planned performing the funeral of the Ya Na Andani Yakubu and to go ahead to install a Ya Na in his place. This, the letter went on, is in total disregard of the interests of the Abudus whose turn it is to install a Ya Na.
The Abudu rubbished the touting of the President as father to all and a president who has sworn oath to ensure peace and equity.
The Abudus acknowledged that the eminent chiefs, led by the Asantehene, had served their nation well by undertaking the assignment bestowed on them by the Kufuor government but explained that the chiefs are now in a dilemma given the support of government to the Andanis.
The decision to write to the Country Director, the Abudus explained, was informed by the concern showed by the UNDP on behalf of the UN in the wake of the bloody conflict in Yendi in March 2002.
A Daily Guide Report