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Opinions of Friday, 4 October 2013

Columnist: Abdul-Salam, Mohammed

The Yagbonwura must Abdicate? - Part 2

The Yagbonwura (King of Gonjas) must Abdicate? - Part 2

The truth is the Yabongwura is in Bole traditional area fomenting trouble, grabbing and amassing powers and confiscating the powers and responsibilities and dignity of the Bolewura onto himself.

He has suspended the Bolewura for six months; removed the legitimately and traditionally selected and enskinned Mandariwura by the Bolewura from Mandari; given the Mandari skins to a person of his choice, removed the duly selected and enskinned Tingawura by Bolewura and; replaced Tingawura with his Tingawura’s own younger brother, former DCE of Bole, Sampson.

Majority of the Gonja Chiefs subjects feel betrayed by him if fore purporting to deskin Chiefs selected by the Bolewura Mahama, who is the Paramount Chief of the Bole Traditional Area.

The Yagbonwura must therefore heed this warning to desist from his unlawful and excessive practices, rescind his decisions, send the power and respect back to the Bolewura, put Gonjaland back into the peace and tranquility Gonjaland has been enjoying, or else face a massive undermining of his support and legitimacy that would result in impeaching him as the Yagbonwura.
It is clear the Yagbonwura has no right to choose or select or order the enskinment or unenskinment of the duly selected Chief by the Bolewura in the Bole traditional area. The Yagbonwura has no traditional authority to suspend and or remove any Bolewura from the skins of Bole simply because the Bolewura selected some Chiefs based on the traditions of Bole.
If the Yagbonwura succeed in dictating who can be Mandariwura and Tingawura in the Bole area, then very soon he will grab the power to pick and select the the Sawlawura, Tunawura, Kiyapewura, Salawura and so on; and very soon the Bolewura would be stripped of all his powers and responsibilities. Then the Yagbonwura will turn his attention to Kpembi Traditional Area, then to Daboya Traditional Area, then to Tulwe Traditional Area, then to Kusawgu Traditional Area. At that point he would have grown into a full blown dictator of no comparison in the World.
That is not the Gonjaland that we know and that is not the Yagbonwura authorities and responsibilities that we know. This is why the Yagbonwura must be stopped in his tracks right now.
Is the Yagbonwura aware of the limits of his traditional powers and the extent to which he can overrule the decisions of his Divisional Chiefs? Is the Yagbonwura aware that Gonjaland traditional laws are more complicated, fair and beyond his arbitrary decision-making?
We shall not rest until the Yagbonwura restores back the dignity of the Bolewura, takes back all the orders he has given, restores back Mandariwura Kant, and cease and desist immediately from corrupting and interfering and disrespecting our Bolewura and all Divisional Chiefs.
I am happy the legitimately chosen Mandariwura Issahaku Kant has filed an injunction in the courts, against the Yagbonwura and to stop his unreasonable disregard of the rule of law by and to stop his purported suspension and removal of the Mandariwura.
I will discuss the legitimate Mandariwura’s petition in Part 3 of this feature.

By Mohammed Abdul-Salam
Tamale