By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D.

Nobody ever thought either gate of the Dagbon royal family was wholly composed of Gandhian pacifists; at least that is not the impression conveyed by the Wuaku Commission Report that originally detailed the catastrophic events that precipitated the Andani regicide of March 27, 2002. According to the Wuaku Commission Report, what happened in the three days spanning March 25, 26 and 27 could at best be described as a battle royal – no pun is intended here, of course – a familial melee or, even more specifically, an outright act of “war.”

If the preceding Wuaku Commission Report has validity, then the general understanding ought to be that there, absolutely, is no clear-cut distinction between culprit and victim along “gated,” or sub-familial, lines.

In other words, in the consensual opinion of the entire membership of the Wuaku Commission, both the Abudus and the Andanis ought to share equal blame for the internecine hostilities that led to the murder of Ya-Na Yakubu Andani II and some forty, or so, members of the slain Dagbon overlord’s court.

And on the latter score, one need not stretch one’s imagination any further in order to arrive at the implicit conclusion that quite a slew of the slain courtiers/elders of Ya-Na Yakubu Andani II also belonged to the Abudu branch/gate of the Dagbon royal family. If the preceding has validity, and there is no reason to believe otherwise, then what both the Dagbon royal family and the government of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) ought to be vigorously pursuing is the salutary induction of lasting peace and security in the Dagbon State as a whole, rather than the wild-goose chasing fit of judicial vendetta.

One interesting development in the wake of the Ayebi Verdict, which saw the acquittal and discharging of all 15 suspects of the Andani regicide, is the quite predictable expression of great disappointment by a son of the slain monarch, Mr. Mohammed Yakubu Andani. But what is even more significant about the latter’s expression of his chagrin vis-à-vis the Ayebi Verdict, is the younger Mr. Andani’s alleged cautionary threat to the effect that unless the Mills-Mahama government “comes out and comes out well, we [the Andani Gate of the Dagbon royal family] will come out and know what to do” (See “Son of Ya-Na: Government Has Disappointed Us” MyJoyOnline.com 3/3/11).

It is almost certain that in the foregoing quote, the younger Mr. Yakubu Andani and his ilk intend to take the law into their own hands. If such interpretation has validity, and there is no reason to believe otherwise, then, it goes without saying that the sooner Mr. Yakubu Andani is officially called upon to both explain himself and be reprimanded, the better it would serve both the interest of the Dagbon State and the nation at large. If such prompt leadership responsibility is ignored by the Mills-Mahama government, needless to say, the Asantehene-led Eminent Group of Chiefs’ attempt to reconcile both gates of the Dagbon royal family and, by logical extension, the Dagbon State at large, would come to naught.

And on the latter score must quickly be added, by way of laudation, that President Mills’ decision to emulate former President John Agyekum-Kufuor’s conciliatory approach towards resolving the Dagbon family feud, indicates the commendable appreciation of President Mills of the fact that a statesmanlike approach to conflict resolution trumps any jejune attempt at scoring cheap political points. At any rate, one wonders why it took the President so long to arrive at this all-too-commonsensical and proactive approach to justice and fair-play.

Really, listening to the security-threatening remarks of Mr. Mohammed Yakubu Andani, remarks that are suggestive of the fact of the latter being privy to the identity of those responsible for the brutal murder of Ya-Na Yakubu Andani II, one wonders why the late Ya-Na’s son had not provided Attorney-General Martin Amidu with such evidence even while, paradoxically, anticipating such NDC stalwarts as Messrs. Atta-Mills, David Annan, Rawlings and Mahama, none of whom are officially known members of the Dagbon royal family, to unearth incontrovertible forensic evidence for the successful prosecution of the culprits of the Yendi regicide.

Indeed, the patently unwise alignment of the likes of Mr. Mohammed Yakubu Andani with any one of the two major Ghanaian political parties, namely, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC), as an obviously expedient means of bringing justice to bear on the Ya-Na regicide could not be more repugnant. And it was rather unfortunate for President Mills to so gratuitously remark in the wake of the Ayebi Verdict that he, Tarkwa-Atta, had absolutely no qualms about needlessly politicizing the Dagbon tragedy.

*Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D., is Associate Professor of English, Journalism and Creative Writing at Nassau Community College of the State University of New York, Garden City. He is a Governing Board Member of the Accra-based Danquah Institute (DI) and the author, most recently, of “The Obama Serenades” (Lulu.com, 2011). E-mail: okoampaahoofe@optimum.net. ###