My agenda for Dagbon is unity, peace and progress - Nana Akufo Addo

President-elect Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said he is committed to working to bring unity, lasting peace and progress to the Dagbon Traditional Area.

“I have said it before and I will repeat it today. I have no agenda in Dagbon other than the unity, peace and progress of Dagbon,”, he said on Friday during separate calls on the Regent of Dagbon, the acting President of the Dagbon Traditional Council and head of the Andani Royal Gate, the Kampakuya Na, Yakubu Abdulai Andani, and the Bolin Lana, Head of the Abudu Royal Gate, Mahamadu Abdulai.

“I am going to work with you, the Kampakuya Na (Yakubu Abdulai Andani) and with you, Bolin Lana, (Mahamadu Abdulai), and everybody to make sure that reconciliation and peace become reality in Dagbon so that things are normal again.

“We should get rid of the military detail and the police barracks. All those things should go so that things become normal here again in Yendi. And I know that I can count on you to help me reach this goal,” Nana Akufo-Addo said.

The President-elect is on a thank-you tour of the three northern regions following the support he got that ensured his emphatic win at the December 7, 2016, polls.

At the respective palaces of the Kampakuya Na and Bolin Lana, the President-elect Akufuo-Addo said “before the election I came here to see you and to seek the support of you and your people. You were kind enough to receive me and you prayed for me.

“You prayed that God will bless my enterprise and the enterprise of the New Patriotic Party. Thanks to the Almighty God, I am happy to tell you that he blessed our enterprise and gave us victory on the 7th of December.”

Nana Akufo-Addo thanked the Kampakuya Na for being the first traditional ruler to send a delegation to Accra to congratulate him on his and the NPP’s victory in the December 7th elections.

He said he was honoured by that gesture, which he believed indicated the close relationship that the Kampakuya Na wished to forge with him, a development he warmly welcomes.

Nana Akufo-Addo said the late Ya-Na, Yakubu Andani, father of the Kampakuya Na, and the late Ya-Na, Mahamadu Abdulai, father of the Bolin-Lana, were both his good friends, who treated him as their younger brother, and he, in turn, considered himself, now, as an older brother to the two chiefs.

To this end, Nana Akufo-Addo, appealed for the support, understanding, co-operation and solidarity of the Kampakuya Na and Bolin Lana for his government, adding that “I am confident that the relationship we have built over the years will show that in me you have an older brother who is going to be a true companion to you.”

He continued, “I want to assure you that all the commitments I made to the Ghanaian people – how we are going to revive our agriculture, develop our industry, bring employment to our people and wealth and prosperity – all those commitments I am, by the grace of God, going to keep them so Ghana can move forward and find her way to progress and prosperity.”

The President-Elect thanked the Kampakuya Na and, subsequently, the Bolin-Lana, for helping the NPP’s parliamentary candidate for Yendi, Mohammed Habib Tijani, retain his seat.

“We had two seats in Dagbon – Yendi and Tolon – in 2012. Now we have five. Apart from Yendi and Tolon, we have added Gushegu, Nanton, Savelugu. In 2012, the NPP presidential candidate received 38 percent of the popular vote in the Northern Region. Today, it has gone up to 42 percent. The next time, God so permitting, it will be the majority of the 12 seats in Dagbon and the plurality of the popular vote in the Northern Region,” he said.

Nana Akufo-Addo said it was his fervent wish that, in his time as the nation’s President, Dagbon would be restored to its proper place in the affairs of Ghana as an ancient, respected traditional state at peace with itself, and an area of progress and prosperity.