Strangers with a foreign accent were involved - Ya-Na's son

Strangers with a foreign accent were among the combatants from the Abudu gate who stormed the Ya-Na's palace, Nantogmah Alhassan Andani, son of the late Ya-Na Yakubu Andani II, told the Wuaku Commission sitting in Sunyani on Thursday.

Continuing with this evidence, which he started on Wednesday, witness said, "When the attackers entered the palace there were some people I saw amongst them who I never knew."

Nantogmah described the strangers as "energetic-looking and were in green T-shirts and knickers, with some of them wearing hats. "The late chief's son broke down in tears at a point in his evidence on Wednesday as he described how his father died in the attack. This compelled the Commission to adjourn proceedings abruptly at around 1pm instead of the usual time of 2pm.

Nantogmah replied in the negative, when asked by the Commission if he knew everybody in Yendi. He, however, insisted that the 'strangers' were not from Yendi when asked to justify why he described them so. "I guessed they were strangers as the type of Pidgin English they spoke was not of Ghanaian accent."


He alleged that the 'strangers' were using sophisticated weapons', which he described as those used by the police. Nantogmah denied knowledge about the existence of an armoury at the Ya-Na's palace. The Commission then asked: "will you be surprised that the police discovered an armoury at the palace?' "I will be astonished," witness replied.


When asked further by the Commission about how the attackers were repelled on Tuesday, 26 March, when firing was returned from the Ya-Na's palace, Nantogmah answered in the negative, saying, "I don't know."


He however, admitted that the Ya-Na had warriors at the palace and agreed that some seven names contained in his statement to the police were part of the palace warriors. But he disagreed with the Commission that one Asafo was the head of the warriors and rather mentioned one Nontangnam Kwaku Donkor as the leader.


Nantogmah replied in the affirmative when asked if he saw anybody in the palace in war apparel. He told the Commission in answer to another question that at a stage the warriors in the palace managed to repel the Abudus.


Nantogmah, who began his evidence from events on Wednesday 27 March, narrated that when their attackers intensified their firing, "some of us including one Shaibu, Imrana, Alhassan Yakubu and others became frustrated. "We therefore, scaled a short wall at the palace and sought refuge in an abandoned veranda at a nearby prisons quarters".


He said whilst at the hideout, they watched the actions of the attackers. At a point, he added, when Amadu, (one of those at the hideout) called their attention to look at one Idana holding the Ya-Na's hand, he (witness) was not surprised because of the way he had seen his father lying prostrate after being shot.

While this was going on, the Abudus were making a whole lot of noise at the precincts of the palace and I heard one of them saying, "whoever is a man enough should come forwards to face us".


Witness added that he heard one Yahaya saying that Yakubu (who was with them at the hide-out) was the next person they (Abudus) were going to burn. Nantogmah continued that he heard Mohammed Kyampong, one of the attackers give the order that Mohammed Achana Abdul-Salam, a warrior and a son in-law of Ya-Na, should be shot in front of the palace.


"All these events, he said, happened between 9 am and 10am whilst we held ourselves up at the hide-out till 1.00 pm before we left for the Yendi Hospital as some of us had been wounded."


Nantogmah added that Abudus, who were then in a jubilant mood, multiplied at the precincts of the palace. At this time, he said Mohammed Zei and Tinjani Zei, two of the attackers passed near where we were hiding, holding guns, to the Ya-Na's palace. The late chief's son narrated that they then heard the beating of gong-gong and drums by some of the Abudus approaching the palace.


Nantogmah said they heard some of the Abudus saying that they should go and bring their chief to come and dance. After those people had left for the Bolin-Lana (chief of the Abudus), "we heard the beating of a drum, its language interpreted as 'a hero has fallen', he added.


When the Commission at this point asked if the drumming was part of their history that he knew, witness replied in the affirmative. He explained that at dawn of festive occasions, the drummers assembled at the palace to beat such drums to extol the virtues of their past heroes and ancestors to remind the Ya-Na of the wars fought in the past.


Nantogmah said that after the beating of the drums for fallen heroes, they head the sound of another drum, 'tinpan', "which is beaten when a chief arrives at a place".

The sound of the tinpan drum intensified and it appeared that jubilant Abudus were dancing towards the Royal Mausoleum, which is near the palace, he added.


Witness said "at this time, I saw one Mohamadu Fushei dragging the Ya-Na's body to a point whilst two other men holding lorry tyres placed them on it and poured a liquid on it". When asked to mention those he identified, he cited the Bolin-Lana and his counsellor, the Zaligu-Lana, among others.


He alleged that they then saw a military Mowag passing by and when it reached where the Abudus were jubilating around the palace, one of its occupants advised them to disperse if they had accomplished their mission to avoid being fired on by soldiers from Tamale.


Witness said the Ya-Na had sent for military intervention to rescue him. Asked further if the Mowag was in the town that day, he replied that it was seen patrolling in the town.


In an answer to another question by the Commission, witness said the Ya-Na expressed dissatisfaction with the police and military protection for the Abudus during the celebration of the El-dul-Adha festival. Asked if during this festival the Gbewaa palace was given any security protection, he replied in the negative.


When Alhassan Sahadu, another witness was sworn in to begin his evidence, a Sunyani-based lawyer, Nana Obiri-Boahen announced his appearance for the Abudu Gate. Sahad who is the Guntengli-Na, a sub-chief of the Ya-Na, corroborated the evidence of earlier witnesses on the events on Sunday, 24 March.


He said when efforts by the Ya-Na to get the Yendi District Chief Executive, Mr Mohammed Habib Tijani, to explain the rationale behind the imposition of the curfew failed, they later got the ex-Regional Minister, Mr Prince Imoro Andani, who denied knowledge about the decision to impose the curfew since he (ex-Minister) was in Accra at the time that the decision was taken.

The ex-Minister, therefore, told the Ya-Na that he (ex-Minister) could not deprive him of his right to observe the Fire Festival. Shahadu, however, added that the ex-Minister lifted the curfew based on the assurance of the Ya-Na that the celebration of the festival would be peaceful. Witness corroborated the evidence of other witnesses, particularly the firing between the two gates on Monday and Tuesday.


He said on the Wednesday morning, they were in the palace when fire was set on it by the attackers, amidst a hail of bullets fired into the palace from outside, with some hitting the walls. Shahadu said when they could no longer contain the heat of the fire set on the palace and the intensity of the firing from the Abudus he fled by scaling a wall amidst bullets whistling past him.


When asked by the Commission why he did not sustain any injuries, he said he prayed to God at that time to protect him. He said he sought refuge at the police station and was helped to the barracks of the Yendi military detachment where he met the DCE.


At the barracks, he said, an officer asked him if the Ya-Na was alive, and quoted the officer as saying, "we wanted to impose a curfew but he (Ya-Na) refused". He continued that he was made to board a Mowag to the palace where only two young men, Alhassan Zakari and Kofi Wura were seen and together, they returned to the barracks.


Shahadu alleged that he and the two young men were ordered to remove their talismans and amulets to be burnt at the barracks in the presence of the DCE.


He said in answer to a question that on Tuesday, 26 March, he led the wives of the Ya-Na and their children out of the palace for safety somewhere. When the Commission questioned him about inconsistencies in his two statements to the police and his evidence, witness insisted that all that he had said was the true account of events during the crisis.


Justifying that assertion, Shahadu told the Commission that he did not believe that there were inconsistencies in the statements even though he was not of himself when he gave the statements to the police.

I even begged them (the police) to forgive me if they found any omissions, he added. Mohammed Achana Abdul-Salam, another witness, told the Commission that he is a warrior for the Kumbungu-Na, who owed allegiance to the Ya-Na.


As a warrior and a son-in-law of the Ya-Na, I went to Yendi on the morning of Tuesday, 26 March to see how the chief was faring, following an announcement on Radio Savanna in Tamale at 5.00 pm on Monday, 25 March, that due to some troubles in Yendi, a curfew had been imposed, he said.


Witness corroborated the evidence of earlier witnesses about the ordeal they went through from the Tuesday morning to about 10 am on Wednesday, when he was helped by a police officer, who he named as Inspector Ben, to Yendi Hospital for treatment. He told the Commission that when they were hemmed in at the palace on the Wednesday morning, he decided to face the attackers in front of the palace.


Abdul-Salam said in the process, he received gunshot wounds on the two elbows, on the head and in the belly, which he showed to the Commission. Witness denied knowledge of the existence of an armoury at the Ya-Na's palace when asked by the Commission.


Mr. Justice Isaac Newton Wuaku, chairman of the Commission, before adjourning proceedings, noted that unlike the previous days, the space interval between the two gates at the hall was too wide. He said that did not augur well for the efforts being made to reconcile the two gates. Sitting was adjourned till Friday, 14 June.