The family of late Yaa Naa Yakubu Andani II has expressed their displeasure with the Abudu family for their lack of commitment in performing the final funeral rites of the late Yaa Naa Yakubu in peace and tranquillity.

According to the Andani youth, their cousins, the Abudu’s performed their funeral without any security challenges since they were committed to ensuring that the two funerals of the late Dagbon lords were performed without clashes.

Mahama Sayibu, Member of the Publicity committee of Yaa Naa Yakubu II funeral told the media at a press conference that, the entourage of the chief of Sagnarigu who was pelted with stones in Yendi by some Abudu youth culminating in injuries and fatalities of some of them is ample testimony that the Abudus are intended to disrupt the funeral or dilute its significance.

"We wish to state that last Thurday's shoot-out in Yendi is part of a planned strategy by the Abudu family to prevent us from performing the funeral," he said.

“While we see the death of the two vibrant Abudu youth as unfortunate, we equally wish to draw the attention of the government to the latest security threat posed by one Abukari also known as regent of Diyeri,” he added.

Mahama Sayibu said Abukari was arrested by the police for illegal possession of arms while traversing the Tamale Yendi road on Thursday, January 10 but has since been released by the Tamale police.

“We wish to call on government to ensure his prosecution as soon as possible not only to assure the tens of thousands of Dagombas who will troop to Yendi for the funeral that their lives are not in danger but also to demonstrate that government is indeed committed to a peaceful resolution of the Dagbon crisis,” he said.

“Possession of arms without lawful authority is a crime and we do not wish to remind the police that the regent of Diyeri is a potential suspect in this regard and stands accused of alleged possession of illegal arms,” he noted.

The Andani’s believe that past statements of Diyeri regent have been injurious to peace in Dagbon and his latest action can only be construed as part of a planned strategy to disrupt the peace process.

Read below the full press statement

ANDANI YOUTH

Yaa Naa Yakubu II’s Funeral and matters arising.

We welcome you all to this press briefing and thank you for responding to our call albeit at short notice. It has become necessary, following the commencement of the funeral of the late Yaa Naa Yakubu II to raise issues that we think are critical to the successful performance of the funeral. We are all aware that our brothers and sisters in the Abudu family successfully performed the funeral of the deposed Yaa Naa Mahamadu Abdulai without noticeable security challenges. This was partly as a result of our resolve to ensure that the two funerals were performed without security challenges. Unfortunately, our cousins do not seem to be ready to cooperate with us to perform the funeral of Naa Yakubu in peace and tranquillity.

Yesterday’s incident where the entourage of the chief of Sagnarigu was pelted with stones in Yendi by some Abudu youth culminating in injuries and fatalities of some of them is ample testimony to our claim that the Abudus are intended to disrupt the funeral or dilute its significance. While we see the death of these two vibrant Abudu youth as unfortunate, we equally wish to draw the attention of the government to the latest security threat posed by one Abukari also known as regent of Diyeri. He was arrested by the police for illegal possession of arms while traversing the Tamale Yendi road yesterday Thursday, January 10 but has since been released by the Tamale police. We wish to call on the government to ensure his prosecution as soon as possible not only to assure the tens of thousands of Dagombas who will troop to Yendi for the funeral that their lives are not in danger but also to demonstrate that government is indeed committed to a peaceful resolution of the Dagbon crisis.

Possession of arms without lawful authority is a crime and we do not wish to remind the police that the regent of Diyeri is a potential suspect in this regard and stands accused of alleged possession of illegal arms. The Diyeri regent is on record to have made markedly threatening statements in the past injurious to peace in Dagbon and his latest action can only be construed as part of a planned strategy to disrupt the peace process. We also wish to state that this afternoon’s shoot-out in Yendi is part of a planned strategy by the Abudu family to prevent us from performing the funeral and the fact that the Diyeri regent was arrested in connection with arms on the heel’s of earlier pelting of stones on the entourage of the Sagnarigu chief is a testimony that the Diyeri regent could be a potential suspect in today’s shoot-out.

We also wish to reject attempts by the Abudus through their numerous press conferences to indict the Defense and National Security ministers regarding their roles in the on-going Dagbon crisis since we believe they are only engaging in name calling after realizing that the two respectable ministers are not ready to buy into their whims and caprices. Indeed President Akufo-Addo should treat their concerns on this matter with the contempt they deserve for we believe that they want this government to disappoint the two ministers and get their favorites into such positions so they can scheme the security apparatus to unleash further violence akin to the 2002 incident when President Kufuor packed his security departments with Abudus who arguably slept on duty and failed to heed to warning signs that culminated in the murder of the Yaa Naa. Unlike the Abudus we the Andanis wish to commend the National Security, Defense and Interior ministers for a good job done so far and hope they will continue to work to ensure successful implementation of the Otumfuo committee report.

We, however, wish to respectfully recommend that the military and police command review their security operations in Yendi since this sporadic violence in Yendi is an indication that more violence could be imminent if more pragmatic actions are not taken. We express our disappointment in the leadership of the northern regional minister who has failed in his duty as head of REGSEC to ensure a peaceful atmosphere for the performance of the funeral of Na Yakubu as he did not Na Mahamadu Abdulai. Consequently, we demand his immediate resignation since we no longer have confidence in his leadership as a neutral arbiter.
We thank you for your attention.

Mahama Sayibu

Member, Publicity Committee of Yaa Naa Yakubu II funeral