Re: Why they preferred Akufo-Addo to Aliu Mahama?

No wonder Alexander Pope, a 17th Century English Poet stated that “a little learning is a dangerous thing.”

In a feature entitled “Why they preferred Akufo-Addo to Aliu” published on myjoyonline a few days ago, a gentleman hiding under the pseudo name Dagban Doo sought to miseducate the public.

He misdirected himself into concluding that the diplomatic, altruistic, affable and dynamic Honorable Member of Parliament for Yendi who doubles as the Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament and a Vice President of the Pan-African Parliament orchestrated the unfortunate circumstances leading to the death of the late Chief Yakubu Andani of Yendi and that the Abudus supported Akufo-Addo instead of Aliu Mahama because he promised to perform the funeral rites of the late Yaa Naa Mahamadu Abdulai when he assumes the reigns of government.

I will like to state without mincing words that the writer has written nothing substantial except reckless and mischievous peddling of lies and total display of gross ignorance about the issues at play. Frankly speaking Dagban Doo's piece is fraught with churlish statements that are contrary to reason and must therefore be consigned to the dustbins.

I am convinced that this gentleman called Dagban Doo and his sponsors know very well the legal implications of their media opprobrium and that is why he is covering himself with the ghost name Dagban Doo which is meaningless as far as the semantics of Dagbani is concerned.

First of all Dagban Doo took his ignorance beyond acceptable limits when he sought to create an erroneous impression that the late Yaa Naa Mahamadu Abdulai died as an ordinary man. Per the Supreme Court ruling of 1986 and the 1987 Memorandum of Understanding on the Yendi Skin Dispute stated among other things that on the death of Ex-Yaa Naa Mahamadu Abdulai he should be accorded the full funeral rites of a Yaa Naa. Since Dagban Doo wants to be educated he should lay hands on these two documents to enlighten himself. The attitude of Dagban Doo is not however surprising owing to his arrogance and total lack of commitment to any peaceful process that will further the interest of Dagbon and Northern Ghana.

Also, the gentleman's warped and distorted interpretation of what happened in Tamale prior to the departure of delegates and NPP supporters in Tamale for the mega Congress of the NPP in December last year is symptomatic of the cavalier attitude of him and his mentors. It was obvious that Nana Addo was the choice of delegates and ordinary supporters of the NPP in view of his unrivaled records relative to the other candidates of the time including the sitting Vice president Alhaj Aliu Mahama. It is not true that H.E. Aliu had only two buses, which could not be filled. He had over ten buses, which were even overloaded. I know this for a fact because I know most of those who boarded these buses.

Dagban Doo should know that H.E. Aliu lost the contest miserably because of the ineffective and lackluster leadership he has offered the people of Dagbon, Yendi, the North and Ghana as a whole. This was mirrored in the kind of campaign team he put together which seriously speaking cannot even win a Parliamentary Primary in the Yendi Constituency.

Readers should treat with utmost contempt the assertion by Dagban Doo that Abudus in Dagban and for that matter Yendi support the NPP and Hon. Malik because they promised to perform the Final Funeral Rites of the late Yaa Naa Mahamadu Abdulai. The people of Yendi support the NPP and the Danquah-Busia- Dombo tradition because of its track record of development since the days of the then Prime Minister Professor Kofi Abrefa Busia of blessed memory. The trunk road linking Tamale and Yendi was fully constructed during the days of Professor Busia. Currently Yendi is witnessing a massive infrastructural and socio-economic development unparalleled in its history as a result of the effectiveness, efficiency and hard work of Hon. Alhaj Malik Alhassan Yakubu. This is evident in the number of classroom blocks and expansion in health delivery services especially the landmark renovation of the Yendi Hospital and the elevation of the Yendi District to a Municipality.

Also let me put it on record that Yendi has been indelibly marked on the map of the African Continent and for that matter the World as a result of the impartial and mature manner Hon. Malik carries himself in the Parliament of Ghana and his objective and unprejudiced display of Parliamentary knowledge and maturity in the Pan African Parliament which earned him the Vice Presidency position in Johannesburg, South Africa. These achievements can never be matched by the likes of Dagban Doo and his sponsors. Hon Malik is a man of many parts. He is visionary, intelligent, wise, God fearing and peace loving and could have made a better vice president and subsequently a better President for Ghana than the godfather of Dagban Doo.

Furthermore, with all apologies to the families of the people who died, the public must know from now onwards that the late Chief Yakubu Andani was never murdered. He died in the battlefield just after he could not bear the heat of a battle he and his protégés like Mohammed Red, Nimoover (Mba Dugu), Tishigu Nachinnaa of Tamale and Dibadiba started. The million dollar question that still hangs and people like Dagban Doo continue to dodge is that, what was Dibadiba, Red and Tishigu Nachinnaa and the twenty three others purported to have been transported from Bawku who were buried at Sambu doing in Yendi between March 25-27, 2002. Clearly the above-mentioned people are not citizens of Dagbon or Yendi. They were mercenaries brought in to visit mayhem on the Bolin Lana and his subjects for no apparent reason.

I will like to state in definite terms based on verifiable historical evidence for Dagban Doo to be in the know that the Wuaku Commission set up to investigate the 25- 27th March war in Yendi and subsequently the Government White Paper and even the Fast Track High Court completely exonerated Hon Malik from any wrong doing. In fact he was highly commended for the leadership acumen and maturity he exhibited in the heat of the Conflict

Let me again put it on record that, Hon Malik and his cronies from Dagbon have a mission to help develop the area and nothing will distract him from that mission. Desperate attempts by Dagban Doo and his group since 2003 to link Hon Malik and Nana Addo to the conflict in Dagon have since been backfiring in the face of hard facts of the two gentlemen's solid track record of assisting and promoting the development of Dagbon, the North and Ghana as a whole.

To conclude, I am certain with deep-seated conviction, that Dagban Doo and his henchmen needed to be committed to mental asylum. Because it is obvious that his work is devoid of any substantive agenda but full of prevaricated and invented cock and bull stories filled with predictable contradictions and vindictive lies.