Petition to Pres. Kuffuor from the children of Ya Na Yakubu

Sons and Daughters of Ya Na Yakubu Andani II

Post Office Box ……….

Tamale.

Tel. 27th November 2007.

THE President of the Republic of Ghana

His Excellency John Agyekum Kuffuor

Osu Castle

Accra.

Dear Sir,

PETITION

On March 27, 2002, our beloved father and king of Dagbon, Ya Na Yakubu Andani was murdered in cold blood in the full glare of the security agencies, after three days of intense fighting. We were shocked to the bones, especially when most of us only learnt about our father’s death on radio expressing regret about the incident.

We had every justifiable course to draw conclusions regarding his murder because of circumstances surrounded this attack and subsequent murder. However, in responding to his death. After your government had usurped the powers of our Traditional authorities to contemptuously announce his death, you condemned the act and labeled it “gruesome murder”. Your Excellency, you promised to hunt down the killers and punish them according to the laws of the country.

To further assert your determination, you established the Wuoku Commission to investigate the incident. We the sons and daughters of the slain king were excited by this move but have been waiting patiently but in vain for five years now.

We do concur with arguments that murder cases sometimes takes a long time to unravel but not in the case of the murder of the YA NA, an act that was committed in broad daylight and left in its wake enormous evidence.

Your Excellency, we the sons and daughters of the slain king of Dagbon regret to inform you that recent events in Dagbon are only adding pains to our injury.

The recent events take the case of the attempt by the committee of eminent chiefs to impose the performance of the funeral of Mahamadu Abdulai on Dagbon.We view this move by the committee that appears to have demonstrated gross disregard to our tradition in arriving at this suggestion as not only a recipe for disaster but also a blatant disregard for the precious life of our slain father.

Your Excellency, any attemptby your government to assist the committee to perpetuate this wrongful act can only give room to the conclusion that emphasis is being placed on the funeral of Mahamadu Abdulai in the Gbewa Palace to the detriment of finding the killers of our father.

Attempt by the committee of eminent chiefs to suggest that since Mahamadu Abdulai was buried in the Gbewa Palace his funeral should be performed there is not only unacceptable but constitutes a violation of the supreme court ruling of 1986 that concluded that Mahamadu Abdulai’s kingship of Dagbon was null and void.

We as sons and daughters of the slain Ya Na will not sit down unconcerned for the committee to destroy the custom and tradition of Dagbon. We therefore demand that you bring the committee to order to save Dagbon another unfortunate incident.

We as heirs apparent to the Ya Na do hereby call on your Excellency to expeditiously find the killers of our father and also find his property. We demand that the level of zeal and enthusiasm coupled with the expedition and alacrity your government is demonstrating towards the work of the committee of eminent chiefs be replicated in finding the killers of our father.

We do not want to believe that your government has forgotten all about our father and that its preoccupation as far as peace in Dagbon is concerned is to grant the wish of the Abudus, partly the reason why our father was killed.

It is our considered opinion that priority will be placed on finding the killers of our father and not the performance of the funeral of Mahamadu Abdulai at the Gbewah palace.

Signed by and on behalf of all Sons and Daughters of Ya Na Yakubu Andani II

1.Mohammed Yakubu 2. Andani Yakubu 3. Abdulai Yakubu 4. Iddi Yakubu 5. Ziblim Yakubu 6. Andani Yakubu 7. Andani Yakubu 8. Alhassan Yakubu 9. Ziblim Yakubu 10. Mahama Yakubu 11 Bawa Yakubu 12. Abdulai Yakubu 13. Mahama Yakubu 14. Zeinabu Yakubu 15. Nasiki Yakubu 16. Sana Yakubu 17. Naama Yakubu 18. Hamdiya Yakubu 19. Mariyama Yakubu

CC: Speaker of Parliament Committee of Eminent Chiefs Majority Leader Minority Leader BNI, Tamale Regional Police Commander, Tamale Garrison Commander, Tamale National Chief Imam Head of Ahmadiya Moslem Mission Christian Council of Ghana UN Representative Abudu Royal Family Andani Royal Family All Press Houses