Children of Late Ya Naa demand justice for his murder

Some children of the late overlord of Dagbon, Ya-Naa Yakubu Andani II say government has delayed in seeking justice for the murder of their father.

The late Ya-Naa was killed 13 years ago in a chieftaincy dispute.

Earlier today, his children presented a petition to the Northern Regional Minister Alhaji Mohammed Limuna after a protest march through the streets of Tamale.

Northern Regional correspondent Hashmin Mohammed reports that the children marched through the streets of Tamale and finally converged at the Northern Regional Coordinating council to present their petition.

One of the Late Ya Naa’s sons explained that the petition is to remind the Government “Justice delayed is justice deferred”. He expressed his dissatisfaction with the delay in bringing the perpetrators to book and likened the situation to a bucket that is placed beneath an open tap. Eventually, he said, the bucket will overflow.

The children, indicated that they were unhappy with "the prolonged loss of interest on the part of government in the matter concerning the arrests and successful prosecution of those who were involved in the murder".

They are concerned about the attention being paid to the traditional aspects of the case, which they think is overshadowing the criminal nature of the matter.

Thirteen years, in their opinion, is too long and they do not want the government to forget about the fact that a man was murdered in cold blood.

The children, according to him, have been patiently seeking justice but if it continues to evade them, he said, they will be forced to find their own resolution as,  “for some of us it is better to die than to be in this nightmare”. 

Alhaji Mohammed Limuna, in accepting the petition commiserated with the family of the late Dagbon ruler. He assured the family that the President, and indeed government are committed to resolving the matter.

Alhaji Limuna explained that there is an ongoing process to find the perpetrators and asked the family to exercise restraint and permit investigations to go on.  

 

Read the full petition from the family below:

 

      The Family of the late Yaa Naa Yakubu Andani II

      Post Office Box 356

     Tamale.

     April 3, 2015

 

 

HIS EXCELLENCY THE PRESIDENT

REPUBLIC OF GHANA

FLAG STAFF HOUSE

ACCRA

 

THROUGH;

 

THE HON. REGIONAL MINISTER

NORTHERN REGION

TAMALE

 

Your Excellency,

PETITION ON THE MATTER CONCERNING THE MURDER OF YAA NAA YAKUBU ANDANI II AND TOWARDS THE RESTORATION OF THE STABILITY AND INTEGRITY OF TRADITIONAL AUTHORITY IN DAGBON

We, members of the children, wives and members of the immediate and extended family of the late Yaa Naa Yakubu Andani II note with deep concern the prolonged loss of interest on the part of government in the matter concerning the arrests and successful prosecution of those who were involved in the murder of Yaa Naa Yakubu Andani II and dozens of members of his royal court on March 27, 2002. We say this mindful of the promise to that effect the National Democratic Congress made in its Party Manifesto in the run-up to the Presidential and Parliamentary Elections of 2004 and 2008.

The murder of the Yaa Naa and dozens of members of his royal court was a crime of monstrous proportions. It was the climax of a three-day armed assault on the Gbewaa Palace. Not satisfied that they had killed him, the assailants dragged the Yaa Naa’s body to the palace square, chopped off his right arm, decapitated him and set fire to what was left of the body. His body parts were then paraded through the streets of Yendi by the assailants amidst drumming and dancing. All these happened in broad day light and in the full glare of the security agencies including the army and police stationed in Yendi at the time.

The government of the day embarked on a deliberate attempt at whitewashing this monumental crime with the setting up of the Wuaku Commission. In the process of manipulating the investigations, the Commission preferred charges which do not exist in our statute books on some two individuals, thereby ensuring that they would be discharged by the law courts. And this was exactly what happened.

When in 2010 the government of the NDC, almost belatedly, responded to pressure to honour its manifesto promise, some hasty arrests of some suspects were made, who were hurriedly arraigned before court. The lack of professional commitment in the subsequent prosecution was clearly discernible. In connection with that development, representatives of the family wrote to the President of the day, His Excellency the late Prof. J.E.A. Mills drawing attention to some critical matters of concern regarding the trial of those suspects. The issues which were raised related to the nature and scope of the evidence which the office of the Attorney General had assembled for the prosecution of the suspects.

In all these, there was a clear lack of interest on the part of the state prosecutors to get to the bottom of the matter in order to establish the actual levels of culpability of all those who were directly or indirectly involved in this heinous crime. The attitude of the state prosecutors towards assembling the full complement of evidence to ensure conviction was demonstrably lackadaisical, to say the least. It was clear to us that the prosecution had no interest in securing a conviction in this matter. In fact the entire process of prosecution had been set up to ensure that it would fail. And it did.

Your Excellency, the memory of the gruesome murders is still fresh in our minds, motivated not by vengeance, but by the need to deliver justice. And justice is a necessary prerequisite for enduring peace. This is why we reiterate the demand that those who were responsible for the murders which were committed on March 27, 2002 are made to answer for their crimes. The government of the NDC can assist by ensuring that the relevant institutions of law and justice fulfill their obligations to the people of Ghana and of Dagbon in particular by properly and diligently carrying out the criminal investigations and subsequently ensuring the successful prosecution of those who murdered Yaa Naa Yakubu Andani II and the dozens of members of his royal court, those who were responsible for the murders, those who finance the operation and those who facilitated the entire process.

While we are waiting for this, we would like to commend His Royal Majesty the Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II for his indefatigable efforts directed at resolving the traditional aspects of the present crisis in Dagbon. We call on government to facilitate the process by assisting the custodians of Dagbon traditions and custom to stabilize the regime of traditional authority in Dagbon which should culminate in the enskinment of a substantive Yaa Naa, and this should necessarily take into consideration the circumstances of the murder of Yaa Naa Yakubu Andani II.

 

……………………………………

Abdullai Yakubu Andani