Gunmen attack residence of chief who cursed community members who will vote for NDC

Correspondence from Northern Region:

Unidentified gunmen on Wednesday evening attacked the Tamale residence of Gburimani Dana Mohammed Abdulai, chief of Gburimani in the Tolon Constituency of the Northern Region.

One person, identified only as Mashud who is said to be a brother of the chief sustained machete wounds on his head after the attackers allegedly attacked him with a machete.

It is unclear why the residence of the Chief was attacked, however, residents suspect it is in connection to his recent comments made against the NDC.

Family sources say the matter has been reported to the police in Tamale.

The Naa Mohammed Abdulai, while recently addressing a mini rally held at his palace by the Member of Parliament, Habib Iddrisu, evoked spirits of the land to strike with misfortune or even death, any community member who will cast their votes for the opposition National Democratic Congress party and its candidate.

“The gods of this land are protecting the community from individuals with malign intent. Insha ‘Allah, and by the blessings of this skin, Habib has won the elections, Bawumia has won the elections”, Gbrumani Dana Mohammed Abdulai said amidst loud cheers.

“Any woman in this community who will cast their vote for the umbrella – I will mention their name, will be haunted by the spirits of the dam – the community’s only source of drinking water,” he said.

Explaining the reason behind his declaration, the chief said that “While the NDC was in power, at some point, our water source became contaminated and was declared unhealthy for consumption. We requested assistance from the district to renovate the dam. The District Chief Executive at the time was drinking from this particular. Nonetheless, the administration failed to come to our aid after many appeals for attention. However, in 2020 or more recently, Habib offered us resources to build a wire wall around the dam to prevent competition between the people and their livestock and other animals”.

Meanwhile the NDC has said that it would petition the Dagbon Traditional Council to call the chief to order.

NDC Tolon ConstituencyCommunications Officer, Dr Seidu Fiter told GhanaWeb's Northern Regional Correspondent, Mumuni Y Yunus that the chief’s pronouncements were baseless and reckless political talk.

He said that was not the first time the chief was openly campaigning against the NDC.

"This is someone who has ever sacked NDC polling agents during the 2012 elections. He was forced to leave the polling station after they threatened to set fire to his Tamale residence” he said. He also dismissed claims by the chief that the NDC ignored their water challenges.

“The first dam this community got was under [late president] Rawlings. They have only two dams there as their sources of drinking water. It was during the time we were fighting Guinea worms in this country. They were drinking water that was unhealthy for human consumption when Rawlings gave them that dam, and it is the biggest. So if you are cursing people who vote for the NDC, then you’re doing it wrongfully because the water they are drinking is for the NDC”. Dr Fiter explained.