The youth of Dagbon, comprising sons and daughters of both chieftaincy gates – Andani and Abudu – are demanding the immediate resolution of the Dagbon chieftaincy dispute which they claim has stalled development and threatened peace and stability at Dagbon.
During a peaceful demonstration dubbed, “Di Wumti” (“we are tired”), the youth appealed to the head of the Committee of Eminent Kings, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, the Kampakuya Naa, the Bolinlana, the Kuganaa, Dagbon elites, politicians and well-meaning sons and daughters of Dagbon, to see to the settlement of the age-long Abudu-Andani impasse.
They said the disunity among the royal families is tarnishing the image of the kingdom – once a beacon of peace in the Northern Region and Ghana at large.
According to them, the revolt, disunity and disharmony at Dagbon had sent the people of Dagbon backward instead of making some inroads.
“We sincerely believe the royals (NABIHI) should not hold us ransom while the rest of Dagbon languish in abject poverty, joblessness and underdevelopment,” they said.
There is no Dagomba man or woman who has not tasted the demeaning effect of this Abudu-Andani brouhaha – great, small, rich, poor, educated or uneducated – and has brought the image of Dagbon into disrepute.
“We are sad to say that we are still called derogatory names such as the ‘primitive people,’ the ‘barbarians,’ the ‘bush people,’ ‘difficult people,’ ‘liars’ and many more, to which we are totally defenseless. Our hope is that we can vindicate ourselves and prove to the world that we can change and become civilized, humble, peaceable, united people and put our past behind us,” the youth added.
They are therefore demanding finality to the chieftaincy crisis, stressing that the committee of eminent kings must immediately come out with the final roadmap for the performance of the funeral of the late kings of Dagbon, Naa Mahamadu Abdulai IV and Naa Yakubu Andani II, to pave way for the enskinment of a new Ya-Naa.
They have threatened to pile greater pressure on the royals, chiefs, the committee and the President of the Republic of Ghana to resolve the age-long conflict else, they would embark on an exercise dubbed, ‘Occupy The Palaces and Streets,’ so that no movement of chiefs and vehicles would be allowed, as part of the demand for progress at Dagbon.
Meanwhile, the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) of Yendi, Abubakari Armed Yussif, who received the petition on behalf of the government, commended the Dagbon youth for the peaceful nature of the demonstration.
He assured them that their petition would be forwarded to the necessary authorities for immediate action to be taken.
FROM Eric Kombat, Yendi