President John Agyekum Kufuor yesterday appealed to the Kingmakers and people of the Mamprugu Traditional Area in the Northern Region not to allow any external forces to meddle or interfere in the selection and enskinment of a new Paramount Chief.

He said they should aim at the selection and enskinment of a deserving person who would ensure the sustainance of peace and the interest of the people.

President Kufuor made the appeal when a delegation from the area led by Mba Sakpari II, most senior elder of the Nayiri, paid a courtesy call on him to officially inform the government of the death of the Nayiri, Naa Gamni Mahamadu Abdulai. The Nayiri, 88, who died on Monday, June 9 had already been buried. The enskinment of a regent had been scheduled for Friday, June 27.

President Kufuor said the country had "been torn apart by chieftaincy disputes and prayed that this should not befall the area.” All of you should rally together to ensure that you attend to the funeral celebrations with all the customary processes and due process of selection and enskinment of a regent with dignity, sincerity and truth as a successor."

He said the late Nayiri was a true father and statesman who served his traditional area and the nation. "He would be remembered by the government for the readiness with which he accepted to serve on the three-man Committee of Intervention by three prominent chiefs in the country to mediate in the Dagbon Affairs," he said.

The other two chiefs were the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II and the Yagbonwura, Bawa Doshie, overlord of the Gonja Traditional area.

Mr Edward Dramani Mahami, the Warigbandana and Spokesman for the delegation, said the late Nayiri was the father of one of the most prominent traditional area in the Northern Region and that his death was an irreparable loss to the people.

The late Nayiri born in 1915 and enskinned on June 12, 1987 was the immediate past President of the Northern Regional House of Chiefs. He left behind 12 widows, 47 children and 78 grandchildren. Among those present was the Vice President, Aliu Mahama.