Bugri Naabu has tempted Fate and is where he deserves to be...

Bugri Naabu

Folks, those of us who have been doing the yeoman's job of picking on issues regarding happenings affecting humanity have all along made it clear that life on this wretched, sickened, and troubled Earth is transient, full of woes. Whatever emerges as happiness is momentary because happiness has its limits. Too much of it ends in disaster.

So much for the philosophizing.
Here is something to focus on, using Daniel Bugri Naabu, Northern Regional NPP Chairman, as the fulcrum to turn around on, even as we explore the swing of Fate regarding his manner of doing things and what is emerging now to make him a pitiable fool of circumstances.

I first met Bugri Naabu in 1985 when I was a young news reporter at the Ghana News Agency and he was the national chairman of the now-defunct Civil Engineers and Building Contractors Association of Ghana (CEBCAG). He showed much flamboyance at the time because of "money swine".

Hitherto, he had been a miserable "goro-boy" at the Kotoka International Airport who used his cunning to pave the way for his rise in life. As known, he boldly approached the late Col. Zanlerigu, who was then the Minister of Transportation in the Limann Government and introduced himself as a Konkomba, which was to be his "Open Sesame".

By that stroke of luck, he became a contractor and was all over the place as such, which positioned him as a potentate and won him huge contracts with huge benefits, even under the Rawlings system.

I recall his winning the contract for the extension of the premises of the Ghana News Agency and how he profited from it, greasing palms and being insulted behind-his-back by the beneficiaries as a buffoon. I can vividly recall how his white turkey was driven to the bungalow of the then General manager of the GNA, Kwao Lotsu. Phew!!!

Folks, Bugri Naabu's days of glory ended in smoke when the Rawlings administration nabbed him and made him sweat "blood," putting him in custody for malpractices in the handling of CEBCAG and other charges verging on corruption. We saw him then and wondered how he could easily fall from grace to grass. Of course, he was just an uneducated person unsure of how to cut his steps in the system. A victim of self-wrought circumstance? I don't know. We left him to his fate and moved on.

The next phase of Bugri Naabu's public appearance was in the NPP camp, where he established himself as a force to reckon with as far as the Konkomba political interests are concerned. When I read news reports of his resurgence, I wondered what might be happening to get him so energized to help the NPP "redeem" Ghana when all along he hadn't acquitted himself as someone interested in such a venture.

Folks, let's cut it short. Bugri Naabu had his political interests satisfied and became the Northern Regional Chairman of the NPP. Whether for good or bad, he rallied forces to assert his influence in whatever the NPP stands for. The scandals? Too many to recount. If you need anything specific, contact Afisa Otiko Djaba or the relatives of Alhaji Mahama Adams, killed in cold blood. Or others who know about the instigations involving ethnic groups portrayed as anti-Konkomba.

But in all, Bugri Naabu has stuck to our minds because of allegations of his collecting goats, and just anything at all to make him the potentate that he had sought to be in the affairs of the NPP up north. Without satisfying his needs, none hoping to get anything from the NPP (as a party or government in power) can succeed.

Bugri Naabu has stepped on toes. In his search for retention as the Northern regional Chairman, he hasn't spared any effort in going wherever possible to attempt stamping his authority on proceedings.

Folks, God no be Alata man oooh...!!
Now, he is reported to be involved in a near-fatal accident and has been flown to Accra for treatment. He must count himself lucky for getting the opportunity to be flown to Accra for treatment. How many Ghanaians involved in such accidents have had the chance to be treated this way?

I don't pray for his end, but if it will come, let it come to teach devious characters of his kind how not to tempt Fate. I hope nobody will politicize this happening or attempt citing his opponents in the NPP as the architects of his sad fate.

In any case, were we not witnesses to the accident that Dr. Borrowmia had in the heat of the political campaigns for Election 2012? What became of investigations into that accident?

What is emerging from this Bugri Naabu case is that there is too much indecent haste by characters of his kind to go where they are not needed to be. If only they will hasten slowly, they should be able to see the writing on the wall. Only then will they shape up or be shipped out by Fate.

My quip for the NPP: Considering the advanced age of Bugri Naabu and all that he has gone through to be where he is today, what is the hope that he is the one to make the NPP a shining star in Northern Ghana? And why all this allowance for him to behave as if without him the NPP will die in that part of Ghana? Why repose so much confidence and trust in him if a thorough check of his background were done?

Of course, we don't expect such a background check to determine the line of action by Akufo-Addo and Co. because when birds of a feather decide to flock together, nothing can stop them from doing so till they break their necks in head-on collisions. As my former News Editor at the Ghana News Agency described him, Bugri Naabu is a "buffoon"; and he remains so till Fate gets rid of him from us. May his road be rough!!

I shall return…
By Dr. Michael J.K. Bokor
E-mail: [email protected]
Thursday, April 26, 2018