Yendi calm after the storm

...Ya-Na’s last stand of courage

Yendi is calm and tranquil. So calm that, a first time visitor would wonder whether it is the same town that grabbed the attention of the nation, a week ago, when it submerged itself in a gruesome battle that lasted three days and saw the assassination of its King in bizarre circumstances.

By Easter Friday, the inhabitants were going about their businesses and chores without let or hindrance.

After four days of intensive gun battle, except the presence of a number of soldiers and policemen, there was no sign that the town had undergone any hostilities.

Houses in most areas of Yendi are intact and the lorry station was busy as usual. But the same thing cannot be said of the area where the King’s Palace is situated. It looked deserted.

The Palace is a caricature of its original form.

The frontage is riddled with bullets, not from muskets, but sophisticated arms with strange staccato sounds, said security sources.

Some of the walls are splattered with bloodstains. Houses around the Palace were also affected.

The roofs of the Palace have been blown off in the massive conflagration that engulfed it.

The walls have been pervasively scotched by fire and some have been knocked down. What remain of the Palace, which was obviously looted, are the soot of bric-a-bracs.

All the same a couple of policemen stood guard there.

The Chronicle gathered that the late Ya-Na Yakubu Andani II had only his Palace guards and a modicum of subjects to defend him. They put up a stoic defence of the Palace before they were eventually overwhelmed.

Under the intensive offensive, only three warriors remained to protect the Ya-Na and to hold the fort.

Under the pressure, one of the three was killed, another fled and the other escaped with serious injuries.

Then the Ya-Na, who refused to flee, ventured outside the smoking Palace.

He was instantly shot in the neck, beheaded, his arms and legs severed.

Six lorry tyres were placed on him, doused with petrol and torched.

His corpse is suspected to be among the twenty-eight that are deposited at Yendi hospital.

Indeed, the stench at the hospital was so repulsive that pressmen had to cover their noses with their shirts.

Uptill now the head and limbs of the Ya-Na have not been recovered though word circulated that they may be close to identifying and recovering them.

The Government delegation, led by Senior Minister J. H. Mensah, was there to see the injured on admission.

The delegation, which was on a fact finding and conciliatory mission, included Retired Major Courage Kwashigah, Minister for Food and Agriculture; Madam Hawa Yakubu, Minister for Tourism; Mr. Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, Minister for Local Government and Mr. Jake Obetsebi- Lamptey, Minister for Information.