We'll resist political trial- Abudus

Daily Graphic (spread) Tues. April 13/10

Story: Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
THE Abudu Royal Family in the Dagbon chieftaincy divide has indicated that it will resist any political trial by the government aimed at convicting innocent people to satisfy the Andani Royal Family.
According to the Abudu Family, “while we welcome any investigation into the unfortunate events of March 2002, we are disappointed that the Mills government has elected to embark on a political trial that has the sole objective of increasing its electoral fortunes by energising its political base in Dagbon”.
At a press briefing in Accra yesterday to register their displeasure at the arrest of seven members of the Abudu Royal Family in Yendi on Saturday, April 10, 2010 and one other in Tema in connection with the murder of the King of Dagbon, Ya Na Yakubu Andani II and 40 others in March 2002, the Abudu Family said it would resist any “kangaroo” trial and condemned the mode of arrest by some security operatives.
In March 2002 the King of Dagbon and 40 others were gruesomely murdered. The Wuaku Commission was set up by the then government to investigate the circumstances which led to the death of the king and the others.
After the completion of the work of the commission, a committee of three eminent chiefs was put in place to plot out the details of a road map towards the restoration of peace in Dagbon.
A representative of the Abudu Family, Dr Ziblim Iddi, who read the statement on behalf of the family, said, “No amount of political intimidation and persecution can break the spirit of the Abudu Family.”
“We are not going to stand in the way of justice but all we want is a fair trial,” he noted, saying that what was currently going on was a recipe for a mis-trial.
He said all the 40 Abudus who were initially picked up and screened in Yendi before seven of them were sent to Accra had not been told why they had been arrested, nor were they advised on their constitutional right to legal representation.
Describing the modus operandi of the arrest as being reminiscent of the dark and painful revolutionary days of the PNDC and the AFRC, Dr Iddi said various agents of the government had indulged in constitutional violations over the past 48 hours in their eagerness to appease the Andani Family in partial fulfilment of the NDC’s campaign pledge to the Andani Family.
“It is a sad day for Ghana’s democracy that the pursuit of justice has given way to the appeasement of political allies,” he said.
He said four persons out of the seven who were brought to Accra from Yendi were kept incommunicado from Saturday to Monday, while all efforts by their families to locate and communicate with them had failed.
They mentioned the four as Mahamadu Kojo, Alhassan Kpatuya, Yidana Sugri and Mahama Sayibu.
“We wish to reiterate our message to the President following his inaugural address that we intend to co-operate with any credible investigation initiated by the President to find the perpetrators of the events of March 2002,” Dr Iddi added.