Kufuor's Man Arrested

The former district Chief Executive (DCE) for Yendi, Alhaji Mohammed Habib Tijani, 45, has been arrested by the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) and is being held at the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) headquarters in Accra.

The arrest of Tijani, who served in the Kufuor administration, opens a fresh chapter in the re-opened case of the murder of the Dagbon Overlord, Ya Na Yakubu Andani II, by the Mills administration, a campaign pledge for which he was put under pressure recently to make good. A number of members from the Abudu Gate in the chieftaincy dispute had been detained.

He was said to have been invited by the BNI from the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) where he is currently pursuing an academic programme. Upon arrival at their office at 10am last Saturday June 12, he was arrested and detained until about 4pm when he was transferred to the CID headquarters, where he is being held for questioning.

Information Daily Guide has indicates he declined to write a statement, insisting that he would only oblige in the presence of his counsel. Tijani was DCE for the Yendi District at the time of the Dagbon crisis and received accolades from the Wuaku Commission, which was empanelled to probe the murder of the Dagbon overlord. He was lauded for his excellent management of the crisis, with the imposition of a curfew, the lifting of which led to the demise of Ya Na Yakubu Andani II in the Wuaku Commission Report.

In its recommendation, the Wuaku Commission stated: He (Mohammed Habib Tijani) should be commended for all the frantic attempts he made to save the crisis and its escalation. He rose to the occasion and played a key role in all deliberations of DISEC before and during the crisis. On 25th March, when he travelled by road to Tamale to seek security reinforcement, prudently accompanied by two witnesses, one from each of the contending factions.

While the Commission commends the District Chief Executive, however, it commends his reassignment to another position or office outside Yendi, due to the mistrust his role in the conflict, however well intended, has endangered among certain groups of people under his jurisdiction. His arrest has aggravated the tension among members of the Abudu Gate who recently demonstrated in Accra and Yendi against what they described as the continued detention of some of their elders.

Ten persons were arrested and brought to Accra when President Mills moved to make good his pledge of re-opening the case. One of the suspects, Yidana Sugri, has been released on bail, generating dust over the fate of others still being held. Faction fighting broke out in Yendi between 25th and 27 March 2002, during which Ya Na Yakubu Andani II was murdered alongside others.

The then President John Agyekum Kufuor empanelled the Wuaku Commission on 25th April 2002 to probe the matter, headed by a retired Supreme Court Judge, Justice I.N.K Wuaku, supported by Prof. Kwesi Yankah and Mrs. Florence Brew with Mrs. Regina Apotsi, a state-attorney and Mr. G. K. Owoo, a retired Chief State Attorney appointed Secretary and Council respectively.