Thursday, November 04, 2010

Abudus Pull Out From...Otumfuor Committee

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Thursday November 4, 2010
The Abudu Royal Gate in the Dagbon chieftaincy dispute has vowed never to cooperate with any committee set up by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government to bring peace to Dagbon.

It says it prefers the judiciary to settle the protracted issue rather than the Asantehene Committee handling the matter.

A news release issued in Accra yesterday and signed by Dr. Ziblim Iddi, spokesperson of the Abudu Gate said it has come to the notice of the Abudu Royal Family that the President has called on the Asantehene to continue with his mediation effort in the Dagbon conflict.

“The family wishes to state emphatically that it would no longer subject itself to any peace-building process under the auspices of the Asantehene,” it said.

Dr. Iddi said the Abudu family has lost faith and confidence in the Asantehene as an honest peace broker in the Dagbon conflict and said “we did not come to this position lightly.”

He said “we wish to remind all Ghanaians, including the President, that the traditional aspect of the Dagbon conflict is a matter of litigation before a Kumasi High Court. We expect everybody to respect the judicial process and desist from any action that could be prejudicial to the case.”

Dr. Ziblim said “it is the height of hypocrisy and absolute naivety for anybody to think that the government can embark on a partisan political persecution of members of the Abudu family and still expect the family to be part of a mediation process sponsored by the same government.”

He lambasted the Atta Mills government for doing selective justice with regards to the dispute saying “the selective justice pursued by the Attorney General and Minister of Justice in the Yendi conflict is clearly not the mark of a government interested in reconciling members of the two feuding families.”

He emphasized that the Abudu family has faith in the justice system saying “we trust the arbitration process in a High Court more than the Asantehene mediation committee.”

The Dagbon Chieftaincy dispute reached a sad end when between March 25, 2002 and March 27, 2002, thirty people including Ya Na Yakubu Andani II, overlord of Dagbon were killed in the intra-ethnic conflict between the Abudu and Andani Royal Gates at Yendi.

Currently, 15 persons, all Abudus including a former District Chief Executive of Yendi, Alhaji Mohammed Habib Tijani are standing trail at an Accra Fast Track High Court in connection with the murder of the Ya Na.

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