Hamidu's resignation was an NPP orchestration

Bits and pieces of information coming from reliable New Patriotic Party (NPP) sources, suggest that the resignation of General Joshua Hamidu(rtd), President Kufuor's National Security Adviser, was cleverly orchestrated by the President himself and his close advisers.

'Ghana Palaver' sources close to the Kufuor Presidency, have indicated that the murder of the Ya-Naa and the massacre of about forty (40) of his followers has shaken the NPP government to the core.

Thus, right from the beginning when the Andani family accused Messrs Malik Yakubu, Prince Andani, Hamidu and Sulemana of complicity, President Kufuor was convinced that the four of them had to leave the government if the report of any investigation that will be conducted was to have credibility.

The President had no problem at all with Malik Yakubu and Prince Andani. He simply asked them to resign and they did.

Things were not that easy with Hamidu and Sulemana, because he could not move against the two of them without getting the nod from Presidents Obasanjo and Eyadema.

President Kufuor was considering the most diplomatic way of ensuring their exist when out of the blue, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) issued their Press Statement on the Yendi crisis on April 2, 2002 calling on the President to "review the leadership of the security and intelligence agencies- to ensure that none of them has access to facilities to carry out any parochial agenda nor the opportunity to cover up or manipulate the course of the investigations".

The NDC statement threw a monkey wrench in President Kufuor's calculations because he could not be seen to be taking any action that would appear to be kow-towing to NDC demands, so the whole matter of the resignation of Messrs Hamidu and Sulemana was put on hold.

According NPP sources "deep throat" however, the pressure on the President to "do something" about the two gentlemen intensified and grew more relentless. Foreign countries, through their missions in Ghana, also joined in the exerting of pressure on President Kufuor to get the two of them out of his government.

By the middle of April, the die was cast. The question was not whether the two of them were going, but when and how.

Approaches were made to religious bodies, respectable NGOs, Professional groups and others that the President's "spin group" thought had credibility that if these groups made a call for their resignation, the country would expect the President to listen to them.

Such a call would also drown the earlier call made by the NDC for the two, Malik Yakubu and Sulemana, to resign without the NDC taking the credit for forcing them to do so.

The NPP source( "deep throat") say that all the groups that were approached refused to be used in this way, but in the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) executive, President Kufuor found a willing and pliable tool.

Their Executive not only readily consented to issue a statement calling on the President to fire the two gentlemen, but also agreed to defend their decision publicly.

The sources ("deep throat") leak was confirmed by the "Crusading Guide's "Master Researcher" Managing Editor, Kwaku Baako, when he revealed in his Newspaper that General Hamidu's resignation letter was dated May 9, 2002 whilst the Ghana Bar Association's call for his resignation was made on May 11, 2002.

Obviously once President Kufuor received the letter of resignation, he had to find an excuse - to make it public and to accept it. The two-day "waiting period" was used to "lobby" the Ghana Bar Association executives to agree to issue the statement demanding the General's resignation.

The scenario having been played out, the only thing left was for General Hamidu, who had been clued in on all these developments and who had in fact participated in shaping the strategy, to offer his resignation which the President promptly accepted.

According to the Ghana Palaver sources (deep throat), Major Sulemana's "bravado" in refusing to resign is all part of the strategy, and predicted that before the Wuaku Commission begins its sittings, Major Sulemana(rtd) would also have resigned or been fired.