NDC GO BONDERS OVER YA-NA

The NDC office in Tamale which was burnt down on Tuesday

From: Edmond Gyebi, Tamale
The Northern Regional constituency executives of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) have joined the teaming irate youth of the party, who went on a rampage on Tuesday setting the regional party office on fire.

This followed the acquittal and discharge of 15 suspects standing trial at an Accra High Court over the murder of the late Ya-Na, Yakubu Andani.

The NDC executives have unanimously threatened to resign from the party in the next two weeks (starting from 30th March 2011), if President Mills did not re-arrest and prosecute the 15 suspected murderers.

At an emergency executive meeting held in Tamale yesterday, and chaired by the Regional Chairman, Awudu Sofo Azorka, the NDC gurus vehemently registered their disappointment at the President and his administration for failing to honour his campaign promise of bringing justice and restoring dignity to the family of the late King.

According to the regional executives, President Mills, in his 2008 manifesto, promised the chiefs and people of Dagbon that if voted into power, he would ensure that a new Commission of Inquiry was set up to thoroughly investigate the Ya-Na's murder, but the President, they noted, had failed the people.

What seems to have further aggravated the displeasure of the executives was the government's decision to rely on the Wuaku Commission's Report and recommendations, which Prof Mills himself, and the entire NDC, as well as the Andani family, had earlier rejected, and described as a false report, to initiate the prosecution.

They accentuated that the NDC attracted overwhelming votes in the Northern Region in the 2008 general elections on the basis of those promises, which must therefore, be fulfilled without any delay.

Meanwhile, the NDC youth, who are believed to be members of the Andani family, on Tuesday March 29, 2011, set the Tamale Metropolis on fire, as they indiscriminately burnt lorry tyres, mounted road blocks, and destroyed the party's regional and constituency offices, pavilions, billboards, signposts, and every other property that bore the colours of the NDC.

In addition, billboards and other material belonging to the three members of parliament (MPs) in Tamale, Haruna Iddrisu of the Tamale South, Inusah Fuseini of Tamale Central, and Abukari Sumani of Tamale North constituencies were destroyed.

Portraits of the President, Vice President John Dramani Mahama, the founder of the NDC, Jerry John Rawlings, and the three MPs have all been defaced by the aggrieved youth. As a result, a joint military and police team was deployed to control the situation, but the irate youth gave them a tough time, as their numbers overwhelmed the security personnel.

The Northern Regional Security Council (REGSEC), chaired by Moses Bukari Mabengba, the Regional Minister, has therefore, imposed an indefinite curfew on the metropolis, from 11:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. each day.

The Regional Police Commander, DCOP Roy Amuni, in an interview with The Chronicle, condemned the incident, due to the level of destruction caused.

According to him, it was criminal for the group to engage in that act of vandalism and lawlessness, and therefore appealed to them to resort to dialogue, and not take the laws into their own hands.

DCOP Amuni confirmed the curfew, which, he said, was necessary to help restore peace and security.

At the moment, there is heavy security presence in the Tamale Metropolis, but business activities are going on normally.