Accra, Jan.25, GNA- Vice President Aliu Mahama on Wednesday hailed the efforts of Dr Nana Okumanin Obiri Yeboah II, the late Paramount Chief of Affutuakwa Traditional Area in the Central Region to resolve the protracted Yendi chieftaincy crises. He said the late chief, who was a member of the Yendi Skin Enquiry Committee, tasked by the State to unravel the cause of the bloody chieftaincy conflict that claimed the life of Ya-na Yakubu Andani II, the Overlord of Dagbon was very concerned about the need for lasting peace in the area.

Vice President Mahama was speaking when a delegation from the Affutuakwa Traditional Area led by the Regional Minister, Mr Isaac Edumadze called on him to officially announce the death of the Chief, who passed away on September 14, 2005 and would be buried on March 25, this year.

The Vice President said Nana Obiri Yeboah was a nationalist who served the country in the best of his capability as a Parliamentarian and a Politician.

" He was a colleague to President John Agyekum Kufuor in Parliament in 1969, when he was a Deputy Speaker and the President was a Deputy Foreign Speaker," he said.

Mr Edumadze read the profile of Nana Obiri Yeboah, 79, known in private life as Isaac Amissah- Aidoo, which listed the elaborate academic laurels in the humanities and other fields of endeavour. He said the late chief was an Entrepreneur, a Solicitor at the Supreme Court and a former member of the Council of State. He was enstooled as a Senior Divisional Chief on February 22 1965 and was elevated to a Paramount Chief on September 1992. The Regent of the Traditional Area, Nana Koo Osei Kyekyeku, asked the Government to accord the late chief a State funeral since he served the nation with distinction.

In a related event, the family of Dr Francis Kwame Buah, 83, a Historian and former Minister of Education and Trade in the Third Republic, called on Vice President Mahama to announce his death which occurred on December 4, 2005. He would be buried on February 18 in Accra.

Vice President Mahama described the late Statesman as an emminent historian whose academic laurels was known to history students. Surviving Dr. Buah was his wife, Beatrice and three children.