Abudu Family demands removal of Northern Regional
Minister
Tamale, May 20, Ghanadot/GNA
- The Abudu Royal Family of Dagbon has called on
President John Evans Atta Mills to remove Mr. Stephen
Sumani Nayina from office as
Northern Regional Minister.
The family said Mr. Nayina was interfering in the Dagbon
chieftaincy
dispute and not abiding by the roadmap to peace as drawn up
by the
Committee of Eminent Chiefs.
The Abudu Family who made the call at a news conference in
Tamale on Tuesday said Mr.
Nayina’s biased demonstration of partisanship in the Dagbon
chieftaincy divide made him unsuitable to preside
over the administration of theRegion.
Mr. Ziblim Iddi, spokesperson for the Abudu Royal Family
said the family was reacting to
the recent renovation of parts of the Gbewaa Palace,
specifically the royal mausoleum also known as the
“Yilikpani” or “Katini duu” by the
Regent, Kampakuya Na Abdulai Yakubu Andani.
Mr. Iddi said the Abudu family had objected to the
renovation on the
grounds that according to Dagbon custom and tradition, it
was only the Ya Na who could
authorise any works to be done on the “Katini duu” in
consultation with the Kuga Na, an
elder of the Dagbon Traditional Council.
The Abudus noted that in view of the peculiar circumstances
of Dagbon where there was no
sitting Ya Na or Kuga Na, it was prudent that the Abudu
and Andani families abided by the roadmap to peace on
matters pertaining to the Gbewaa
Palace.
Mr. Iddi said the roadmap to peace clearly stated that the
old Gbewaa
Palace should remain free of occupation or any activity
until a date was set for the
performance of the funeral rites of Naa Mahamadu Abudulai.
He said the Regional Minister therefore had no power or
jurisdiction to
approve any request from any party to renovate any portion
of the Gbewaa palace adding that
such power resided in the Committee of Eminent Chiefs or
the National House of Chiefs.
Mr. Iddi said the unilateral decision by the Regional
Minister to renovate the palace
under the protection of state security was in clear
violation to the roadmap to peace.
“We have credible information indicating that the renovation
of the Katini duu is in line with
a grand plan by the Andani Family to perform all funerals of
chiefs under the jurisdiction of the Kampakuya Na to
pave the way for the substantive
chiefs to occupy the relevant skins,” he said.
The Abudus explained that by Dagbon custom,
all persons enskinned as
divisional chiefs must enter the Katini duu to perform final
rituals before they were declared
chiefs and noted that the Kampakuya Na’s interest in
renovating the “Katini duu” was
informed by that agenda.
They said the agenda was a violation of the roadmap to
peace, which states: “The powers
of the regent shall be limited because of the peculiar
circumstances of Dagbon today. In this context, the
regent shall not have powers to
appoint any chiefs or alienate any lands or other resources
belonging to the Dagbon State”.
The Abudu family said Mr. Nayina had allowed himself to be
used in an
illegal way to facilitate further illegality by the
Kampakuya Na, adding: “The family
wishes to serve notice that it will not allow the Kampakuya
Na in collaboration with the
Regional Minister to continue to violate the provisions of
the roadmap to peace with impunity”.
“We shall resist any attempt by the Kampakuya Na to carry
out his
expressed agenda of enskinning chiefs in the renovated
Katini duu. We shall explore all
necessary means to prevent further violation of the roadmap
to peace,” the Abudu Royal Family
stressed.
GNA
