Why It Must Be Aliu Mahama For 2012 Part (3)

After I wrote the parts one and two of why it must be his Excellency the former Vice President of Ghana Alhaji Aliu Mahama to lead the New Patriotic Party (NPP) for election 2012, I had loads of feedback. While some of the feedback received favored the candidature of Aliu Mahama as the very right candidate for the NPP for the 2012 elections, an equal number did not just want to hear that idea at all and also got angry with such an idea. I will try to share with readers some of the comments here.

Some of the comments received centered on what I will call “Aliu Mahama and the death of the late Ya-Naa” and its effects on his political future. Two issues were raised by those who gave me feedback on this issue of Aliu Mahama and the Dagbon crisis.

Firstly, some of the readers did not understand why as vice-president and a Dagbana Aliu Mahama did not do enough to save the live the Ya-Naa. To such people his inability to save the situation meant that, he had a hand in the crisis of March 2002 in Dagbon in which the Ya-Naa and 28others were killed. Even though such people could not provide any core evidence to bolster their claim, they were also not ready to move away from that allegation. No explanation could convince them that Aliu Mahama was just proclaimed “guilty” by virtue of the position he occupied at the time of the crisis. He was assumed to be guilty by what I will term “Guilty by Association” for the fact that, not only was he a prominent member of the Abudu royal family but also vice-president of Ghana! All I told such people was that, if Aliu Mahama was able to “hide” something in relation to his involvement in the death of the Ya-Naa or the crisis in general, then now that he was no longer vice-president of Ghana, and a new government is now in power and even promised in its campaign manifesto in 2008 to unravel the mystery surrounding the death of the King, any evidence must as a matter of urgency be made available to the police to carry out investigations.

The truth is that, there is certainly a world of difference between opinions and facts. Nobody can find anybody guilty with his or her baseless opinions. I have always said that, any evidence about the involvement of Aliu Mahama in the death of the Ya-Naa must be given to the police. Ranting won’t help anybody.

The second group not happy about Aliu Mahama leading the NPP because of the Dagbon crisis had a different dimension to the argument. Such people did not say Aliu Mahama had a hand in anyway in the Dagbon crisis of 2002, but they felt he did not do enough to unite Dagbon or visit Yendi the hours after the death of the King. Such people felt if he had done that, as a Dagbana and a vice-president it would have won him the respect and support of all Dagombas in his political dreams and bring lasting peace to Dagbon. Much as these category of people were right in the way they viewed things; they were also wrong in the practical scheme of things. I explained to such people that, two things stood the way of Aliu Mahama then to have done what they thought he should have done.

Firstly, he was immediately accused by the aggrieved party in the crisis; the Andani family of been part of the crisis. The party of on whose ticket he was vice-president was also accused of colossal complicity. So in the heat of the moment and the tension that was mounting up in Dagbon at the time, any attempt that Aliu Mahama would have made to talk about the crisis or even visit Dagbon at the very moment he was being accused would have only naturally aggravate an already volatile situation.

Secondly, though a Dagbana, Aliu Mahama as vice-president of Ghana was symbolically a “property” of Ghana. Where he went at what time was determined by national security. There was no way he could have jumped intelligence reports and go to Yendi or Dagbon at that time.

In the circumstance, it was and it is only fair that, he is forgiven for not going to Dagbon or Yendi immediately after the crisis even though he finally did and even visited the grave of the late King at the “Katingduu” (The Katingduu is the place Ya-Naas are buried)

In Dagbon culture and tradition if one has a hand directly or indirectly in the death of the Ya-Naa such a person would not live beyond a week after visiting the Katingduu which is mostly revered by Dagbambas.

Since Aliu Mahama visited the place and paid homage to the late King, and still alive eight years after; then it meant that, Aliu Mahama by the culture and traditions of Dagbon is an innocent man as far as the death of the Ya-Naa is concern. Perhaps he is only politically “guilty” by those who even said if they had audio and video recordings of the crisis and who killed the Ya-Naa but are unable to even after over a year in government been able to produce even a dummy CD of the killers!

The other group that gave me feedback on why it must be Aliu Mahama for 2012 was not only against Aliu Mahama leading the NPP to election 2012, but also any Northerner! A comment I had read; “we are the highly educated, we are the majority tribe in Ghana, we have the money, and our ancestors formed the NPP, so we will not allow Non-Southerner(s) to lead the NPP not now”

I must say I was excessively angry with this comment and had to fire back “The NPP is not Southern Kuo (Association); it is a political party which was formed by the Tolon-Naa’s, the Busia’s, the Dombo’s, the Danquah’s etc If you are rich and in the majority ….. Why didn’t you win the 2008 elections?

I can not reproduce the “crossfire” I had with such people here. All I can say is that, if such “apartheid” comments are allowed to go on within the NPP then Northerners have no future and business in the NPP. I am tempted to even say that, with what I have heard it is like it will take the Northerner a “billion” years to lead the NPP if Aliu Mahama is not given the chance to lead the NPP for election 2012!!

There is another group advocating against the idea that, Aliu Mahama should lead the NPP for victory in 2012. The sad news is that, that group is made up of Northerners who are being used by Southerners to discredit one of their own. Such people have weird reasons why it should not be Aliu Mahama for 2012. They don’t care if his candidature would give the NPP victory in 2012 or not. I did like to conclude this part three here and continue the story in other parts of this article. All I will like to say is that, it is in the supreme interest of the NPP to have Aliu Mahama lead it to victory in 2012. I have always said; it is not about who will pay much money to win the candidature of the NPP, it is about who will be acceptable to Ghanaians in a general election. If all in NPP could support the candidature of Aliu Mahama with all commitment, dedication, honesty, faithfully, and also support in kind and in cash with all sincerity the Jubilee House would have been the automatic abode of the NPP come January 7, 2012.

Akilu Sayibu, UK Email: Akilu.sayibu@live.uwe.ac.uk