Adanis Boycott Sitting Of Wuaku Commission

MEMBERS of the Andani family have decided to boycott the Wuaku Commission sittings until they resolve with the President what they describe as some obstacles to finding peaceful and lasting solutions to the Yendi crisis. This was contained in a fax message the commission received from the Andani family yesterday after it had closed the day's proceedings. During yesterday's sitting, members of the Andani family and their three-man legal team were absent but no reason was assigned for the boycott. However, when the Graphic contacted members of the commission at their residence later, they said they received the fax message stating the reasons why the Andanis did not attend yesterday's sitting. Three witnesses from the Andani family, lawyer Ibrahim Mahama, Alhaji Abdul Rauf and Natogmah Alhassan Andani, were billed to testify yesterday but when they were called, they were not present. Their counsel, led by Mr Charles Hayibor, were also not present, prompting the Chairman of the commission, Mr Justice I. N. K. Wuaku, to remark that their absence showed great disrespect for the commission. In their faxed letter to the commission, the Andani family said since the commencement of the proceedings at the Wuaku Commission, a number of grave matters which are obstacles to finding peaceful and lasting solution to the Yendi crisis and are also of great interest to the general public have gradually come to their notice and the families of the late Ya-Na Yakubu Andani as well as the 29 other people who were brutally murdered at Yendi between March 25 and 27, this year. According to the letter dated September 1, 2002, the chiefs and members of the bereaved families intend to discuss those grave matters shortly with the President who established the commission with the view to removing those obstacles. “Until we are able to discuss those matters with the President and find a satisfactory solution to them, we are of the opinion that it will not serve any useful purpose for the Andani family and the families of the deceased persons to have any further dealings with the commission,” the letter stated. Kumbum Na Yiri II, Gulkpegu Gbon-Lana Ziblim, Yoo-Gbon Lana Pkene Mahamadu, Sunglana Abdulai, Zugulana Andani, Tijo-Na Iddrisu, Ibrahim Mahama, Tampion Lana Alhassan and Zogu Lana Abdulai jointly signed the letter, which was written on the letterhead of the Dagbon Traditional Council and addressed to the Secretary of the commission. When the Graphic asked the chairman of the commission, Mr Justice Wuaku their next line of action in view of the development, he said the commission would go ahead with the hearings and expressed the hope to close sitting tomorrow Wednesday, September 4. Mr Justice Wuaku said the boycott by the Andanis would not affect the commission's findings. When Mr Yahaya Seini, one of the counsel for the Andanis was contacted on phone from his base in Tamale, he said they had firm instructions from their clients (Andanis) not to attend the commission's sittings again until further notice. He said their clients did not assign any reason for the directive but indicated that anytime they inform them of the decision behind the boycott, they would inform the commission. When the chairman of the commission enquired about their absence during yesterday's sitting, Supt. Dan Sapark Sampana, leader of the police investigative team attached to the commission said both the Abudus and Andanis were served to be present at yesterday's sitting but when the security personnel went to Yendi to convey the parties to Sunyani, only the Abudus responded. Supt. Sampana said the security personnel waited for the Andanis only to be told that they were not coming. Inspector D.O Acheampong of the Sunyani Police who was a member of the team to escort members of the feuding parties from Buipe to Sunyani said the security personnel who were to escort them from Yendi to Buipe brought only the Abudus. He said Lt Oduro who led the team to Buipe would be the best person to explain why the Andanis failed to turn up but he was not present at the commission's sitting to explain. Mr Justice Wuaku said: “Today is not the first time that the Andanis have absented themselves from the commission's sittings.” He said they might have a reason for their absence as their lawyers who should have explained why they absented themselves also failed to turn up. Mr Justice Wuaku stressed that nobody could in any way blackmail the commission in its work and added that, they would carry on with their duty. When the commission's chairman asked the leading counsel for the Abudus, Nana Obiri Boahen whether he heard anything from his colleagues from the Andani family, he answered in the negative. He stated that the commission has the powers to issue bench warrant for the arrest of the witnesses who were summoned to appear before it yesterday, but would not do that. Mr Justice Wuaku stated that it was the intention of the commission to complete its sittings before attending the funeral of the late Mr G.K Owoo, former counsel for the commission, this weekend. He said the commission has a number of witnesses to deal with and if by September 4 it has been able to do so, it would wind up. When proceedings started, Issifu Baba, a 25-year-old pupil teacher and a warrior of the Bolin Lana admitted that he took part in the Yendi disturbances that claimed the life of the Ya-Na. He said on March 25, while on his way to school, he heard the firing of gunshots from the Gbewaa Palace area and returned home because he was frightened. Baba who is the 104th witness of the commission, said while at home, the firing continued and when he went out to see what was happening, he saw many women and children running helter-skelter to the Yendi airstrip area shouting that the Andanis were pursuing them. Witness said as the Bolin Lana's warrior, he rushed home and took his single-barelled gun and went to protect the Bolin Lana's grandmother's house where he met many people. He said he overheard people shouting that any Abudu who had a gun should take it and scare the Andanis. Asked by Mr Yaw Wiredu-Peprah, counsel for the commission whether the people in the Bolin Lana's grandmother's house were holding any weapons, Baba said they wielded various weapons including stones. He said in answer to another question that he returned gunfire but could not tell whether the shots killed anybody. Baba said the shooting ceased around 6 pm on March 25 but when asked by the counsel if he went back to his house he said, “according to Dagbon custom, we don't fight in the night so I returned home.”. He said in the early morning of March 26, Nayili-fon was quiet but the Andani warriors surrounded the Gbewaa palace area with some on top of trees and the central mosque. Baba said while sitting near the house of someone he named as Iddi at 10 am, he heard the firing of gunshots from the Gbewaa Palace area so he went for his gun and stood by the roadside to protect the Bolin Lana.

He said around 12 noon, the Andanis went to the Yendi Secondary School football field where they killed someone called Shahadu, an Abudu.

Asked by Mr Wiredu-Peprah if he identified the person who shot Shahadu dead, Baba said no because he could not tell how a bullet travels.

According to him, when he saw Shahadu fall down after he had been shot, he opened fire on the Andanis and they started retreating.

Baba said he pursued the retreating Andanis because some of the Abudus had their houses in the area and he wanted to protect them.

To a question by Mr Wiredu-Peprah if he saw some soldiers among their group, witness answered in the negative, saying in Dagbon custom, they do not fight using soldiers as they have their own warriors who go to the warfront. Baba said on March 26, the fighting ended around 10 p.m. and he was surprised because in Dagbon they do not fight in the night.

Asked by Mr Wiredu-Peprah whether he sustained any gunshot wounds, Baba said no because his ancestors would never allow that to happen to him.

In answer to another question about the source of his ammunition, Baba said he used gunpowder, adding that “By our tradition, I could have even used sand for my gun and it would have worked''.

Witness said in the morning of March 27, he saw the Gbewaa Palace in flames and people were seen fleeing the place for their lives.

Asked by Mr Wiredu-Peprah how the palace got burnt, he said it could have caught fire as a result of the gunpowder they were using.

Baba said as the shooting continued, he ran short of gunpowder and when he saw his colleague by name Woizee complaining of dizziness he took him to a nearby house to find food and water for him and he also left for his house.

To a question by Mr Wiredu-Peprah on the source of his gun, Baba said it is a family gun and he grew up to meet it. He stated that the gun is still in his house. Baba said his father taught him how to shoot when he was 10 years old.

In answer to a question by Nana Boahen, as to why he rushed to the house of the Bolin Lana's grandmother, Baba said he was told that the Andanis killed the great grandmother of the Bolin Lana and he did not want a repetition of that incident.

Baba said he did not see the Bolin Lana during the hostilities neither did he go to his house.

Asked by Mrs Florence Brew, a member of the commission to mention the number of Abudus who were injured during the fighting, Baba said two and gave their names as Alhassan Woizee and one person known only as “Who Born You.” In answer to a question posed by Mr Justice Wuaku as to whether the gun he used was licensed, he said he did not know since it is for his family.

Another witness, Alhassan Seidu also known as Kusheli Wulana, said one day, he saw his sister Fati Alhassan crying and when he asked her the reason, she said one of her sons had informed her that Ibrahim Diba, her eldest son had died during the Yendi disturbances.

He said about a month ago, Alhaji Abdul Rauf, Gushe Na and another person called Anim came to his house with a message that lawyer Ibrahim Mahama had sent them with a piece of cloth and a bag of maize to be given to Fati to compensate her for losing her son, Diba in the Yendi disturbances.

He said initially Fati rejected the items with the explanation that the items could not replace a human being but upon persuasion from him, she accepted them while he kept the bag of maize.

When the cloth was brought for Seidu to identify it he could not do so saying he had forgotten the colour. Sitting continues.