Abudus, Chokosis accuse Defense Minister of meddling

Two feuding factions in the Northern Region have accused Defense Minister and Member of Parliament of Bimbila, Dominic Nitiwul, of meddling and bias in the discharge of his duties, with regards to certain operations and conducts of the military hierarchy in the region.

The groups made the accusations in separate unrelated incidents but both that necessitated the involvement of the Ghana Armed Forces.

Both factions are accusing the Minister of manipulating the exercises of the soldiers on the ground to favor their opponents.

The first group to come forth with this allegation and demand removal of the Minister is the Abudu Royal Family in the Dagbon chieftaincy crisis which is currently entangled in a fierce standoff with rival Andani family, with both taken rooted stance, over the implementation of the shaky Roadmap to peace decision by the Asantehene led Committee of Eminent Chiefs.

The two families had accepted a peace plan by the mediation committee to end the conflict and implementation was underway until the Andanis raised a red flag and running the whole mediation efforts into fresh bottlenecks.

The Abudus have performed the funeral of late Naa Mahamadu Abdulai IV and evacuated from the Gbewaa Palace but with the Boling Lana occupying the residence of Mba Dugu, a top department of the old Gbewaa Palace.

The Andanis however, has refused to take custody of the Gbewaa Palace for the funeral of late Yaa Naa Yakubu Andani, demanding for Bolin Lana’s eviction by arguing his presence at the MBA Dugu’s goes against the tenets of the Roadmap to Peace Agreement.

At a press conference held by the Family in Yendi to respond to the Andanis’ demand, they listed a number of directives they claimed the Andanis had also flouted and accused the Defence Minister providing backings to embolden the Kampakuya Naa to commit intransigences.

“It must be recalled that, the Kampakuya Naa was supposed to have vacated the Temporal Palace, popularly called “Annapuna”, before the performance of the funeral of the late Ya Naa Mahamadu Abdulai IV commences at the Gbewaa Palace but the Kampakuya Naa paid def ears, in open fragrance of the directive of the Committee of Eminent Chiefs(CEC) with impunity. He did so because for over twelve years he has flouted the CEC directives by enskining chiefs and selling Dagbon lands, left -right- centre, against the dictates of the Roadmap to Peace”

“He is even more emboldened to disregard everybody because we are quite aware some government officials are in bed with him. We are fully aware the Defence Minister, Hon. Dominic and the National Security Minister, Hon. Albert Kan Dapaah, are some of his main operatives in the NPP government”, the family alleged.

The Abudus did not say explicitly how Dominic Nitiwul was meddling against them but it was rumored that the military command in Yendi takes strict instructions from the Kampakuya Naa with little regard to the Bolin Lana.

The family later openly warned it will resist any efforts to remove the Boling Lana from his current location.

Few days after the Abudus claims against the Defence Minister, a whole ethnic group in the country has also demand from President Akuffo Addo the removal of Dominic Nitiwul from office as Defence Minister.

The Chakosi people in the Chereponi district, who are currently in a conflict with Konkombas, are accusing the Defence Minister of assisting his tribesmen to fight them in the latest clashes currently relaxed between the two ethnicities.

Their call follows on the back of a curfew imposed on the Chereponi and Saboba districts after violent clashes between the konkombas and chokosis metastasized across and led to several casualties.

“Ladies and gentlemen of the Media, as you are aware of the conflicts that is currently happening in the Chereponi and the Saboba Districts of the Northern Region of Ghana.

We wish to draw your attention of the current happenings in the Konkombas attack on the Chokosis in the two Districts, and calling on His Excellency President Akufu Addo to remove the Defense Minister from Office in order to restore peace in the area. We the Chokosis have lost faith in him as he is using his position to support Konkombas fight the Chokosis with impunity.

On 1st of January 2019, the Konkombas attacked and burnt two settlements belonging to the Chokosis. This started the conflict between the two tribes. However, these attacks have not stopped and as we are informing you now the Konkombas have burnt a total of six settlements of the Chokosis and counting. It is important to point to you the following: We believe the Soldiers are being directed to block off the Chokosis whiles allowing the Konkombas the opportunity to burn down the settlements belonging to the Chokosis without any resistance. Some of the Konkomba fighters have access to military uniforms and they come to these settlements as soldiers and then start to burn these settlements. These uniforms are believed to be supplied by the Defence Minister and his Konkombas powerful politicians”.

“The few soldiers in Chereponi are preventing the Chokosis from going to the Konkomba areas and those soldiers in Saboba aiding the Konkombas to fight and kill the Chokosis. The Defense Minister was in Saboba the day before the incidence and is believed to have supplied the Konkombas arms and ammunitions on the day before the fight broke out.The Defense Minister and his collaborators have disabled the security apparatus like the DISEC in both the Chereponi and Saboba Districts in order to allow the Konkombas to continue to burn and kill the Chokosis”, the ethic group said in a press release.

The tribe concludes, saying, “On the basis of the above we are calling the President of the Republic of Ghana to as a matter of Urgency remove the Minister of Defense from his position and put a neutral person who can immediately bring peace in the Chereponi and the Saboba Districts in the Northern Region of Ghana. We believe that the continuous stay in office of Mr. Dominic as Defense Minister and particular Northern Region is a threat to National Security in Ghana”.