Writing under an article titled- Does Ya-Na’s Ghost Haunt Aliu Mahama? Published on Ghanaweb.com on the 12th day of June 2010, one Okoampa churned out some inaccuracies which must be demolished immediately before readers are misled!
Firstly he stated that, the Ya-Na Yakubu Andani and some 40 others were literally butchered. This is false in all shape and form. The body that officially investigated the death of the Ya-Na – the Wuaku commission discovered that, the late King of Dagbon died alongside 27 others.
Okoampa must be “Kidnapped” by the police to account for the other 13 persons perhaps his proximity to Nana Addo who was Attorney-General of Ghana at the time of the death of the Ya Na makes him privy to some information the rest of us do not have.
As a Dagbana I want to know the true number of my kith and kin who were killed when his cousin was Attorney-General of Ghana and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) was in government.
It must be stated that, Okoampa raison d'être for writing such an article was the recent alleged raiding of the residence of former vice-president Aliu Mahama in Bolgatanga in the Upper-East region. I honestly do not have any proof as to whether the former vice-president has a house in Bolgatanga. What I do know is that he is a Dagbana from Northern region not Upper-East region.
The preliminary information I have is that, the Police did state that, they did not know the numerous houses they raided in the Upper-East region which is currently a conflict region included that of the former vice-president? This even further makes the issue of Aliu Mahama having a house in Bolga more curious!
The question to ask is what was the true motive for Okoampa writing such an article under such a misleading heading? Was it to put “sand in his own Gari” as it said in the local parlance? I say this because Okoampa seem to be a sympathizer of the NPP-the party which was in government when the Ya-Na and 27 others died and his cousin Nana Addo was part of that government.
The Dagbon issue has become an albatross on the neck of the NPP and used extensively against the party -why then should he attempt resurrecting an issue that has no any advantage to his political ideology and will only at best raise issues about other persons he seem to be worshiping?
I have always said something- the Akyems in the NPP including Okoampa have the tendency of shifting the Dagbon crisis onto the few Northerners who were in government at the time of the crisis. The article he just wrote is one such evidence of that effort.
It was under NPP government headed by J. A. Kufour that the late Ya-Na and others died. If the ghost of the Ya-Na should want to search any body it is the NPP as a party which implausibly failed to protect the lives of those who died that would have questions to answer and not Aliu Mahama who was only part of the whole.
The NPP is willing to always tout its achievements when it was in government but always quick to attribute its failures to save the life of the late Ya-Na and others to individuals in the party. It must be stated here and now that it was the corporate NPP that failed to prevent the crisis in Dagbon and not any single individual.
It must also be explain that it is the NPP as a party that is not performing very well in the Dagbon constituencies and not any individual. If there is any ghost to haunt anybody it will be the NPP as a party that it will haunt Okoampa not Aliu Mahama!
Another untruth that Okoampa wrote in his article was my clarion call for the NPP to be “De-Akanized” to make it an all inclusive political party in other to drive away the monster call “Akanized” party. I have always explained that my calls for de-akanization of the NPP means putting structured efforts in place to tactically put other “minority” tribes in key positions in the party to give it different outlook.
Sadly, Okoampa’s understanding of my “De-Akanization” calls means Dagombaizing (Sic) the NPP. I have never said that, the NPP should be “Dagombanized” I have always said that, it should be “De-Akanized” will Okoampa be humble and not exhibit any arrogance apologize to me for misrepresenting and distorting my “de-Akanization” calls?
I did publish somewhere that, I was not going to continue my other parts of my article titled: Okoampa has dialed a wrong number. This was after I received lots of emails telling me that, what I was writing and the issues I was raising could be used against the NPP one day. I will not continue such series even though I have them saved on my laptop. Okoampa however, must be told to put a stop to these overt and covert provocations. He is definitely not helping his cause a second and he must be told that if the late Ya-Na ghost is to haunt any person or body it will be the NPP that failed to prevent the deaths when it was in government.
AKILU SAYIBU, UK.
Email: Akilu.Sayibu@live.uwe.ac.uk