The stage has been set for the government and the Dagbon state to clash on the turf of the 1992 Constitution after the Overlord of Dagomba land, ordered the Banishment of the Divisional Commander for Yendi.
Ya Naa Abukari Mahama had issued the order, giving DCOP Peter Ayirezang two hours to remove himself from Yendi or pay for his disrespect.
Ayirezang, who had received the order at 5 o’clock pm, was by 7 pm on his way to Accra, tail in between is legs.
DCOP Peter Ayirezang, was allegedly dismissed from Yendi for allegedly disrespecting His Royal Majesty, Yaa-Naa Abukari Mahama II.
“The Overlord gave a command around 5:00 pm [on Saturday] that the behaviour of the Divisional Commander looks odd and very disrespectful to the Overlord of Yendi and so he should leave Yendi before 7:00 pm. So, the youth came out in their numbers and asked him to obey the order given by the Overlord of Dagbon. The BNI Director, the Crime Officer and the District Commander all came to the Palace to plead but the plea was refused. So around 6:30 am he [the Divisional Commander] left Yendi,” reported a former Assembly Member, for Yendi, Abu Zolge.
In an interview with Accra-based Citi FM, Mr.Zolge narrated that the Yaa-Naa had settled a dispute between two of his sub-chiefs in the Tatale area, but three days after the settlement, they had been invited by the Divisional Police Commander.
The Yaa-Naa upon hearing this gave the sub-chiefs the clearance to honour the invitation but sent emissaries along to inform the Police that the issue had been amicably settled.
However, upon reaching the station, the Police Commander ordered for the arrest and detention of the sub-chiefs and ordered the emissaries from the Gbewaa Palace to vamoose.
When the information reached the Yaa-Naa, His Royal Highness was so displeased that he ordered that the impudent Police officer leave Yendi immediately. It was 5 pm at the time, by 7 pm, the Police Commander was out of Dagoma land on his way to Accra to report himself.
“I have left Yendi because if you are with someone and he says he can’t work with you, what can you do? I am in Tamale en-route to Accra; I will go to Accra tomorrow [Monday]. I have reported to the administration and they have recalled me to be reposted,” Mr. DCOP Ayirezang told Citi FM.
The spectacle has left questions in the air as to whether Ghana is retrogressing into a patchwork of monarchies, instead of the Republic that the country supposedly is.
This is especially so because the removal of an officer of State by the Monarch of Dagbon is coming on the heels of a declaration by the Kwahu Traditional Council that it has banned the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) from campaigning on Kwahu land.
The Traditional Council has since ordered two radio stations purportedly allied to the NDC to close as well.
Also, the Akyem Abuakwa Traditional Council had threatened to ban the NDC from ever campaigning on Akyem land.
In the Ashanti Region, when the Asantehene, Otumfuor Osei Tutu ll, complained about being maligned by some people in the Akufo-Addo Government, two grown-up men from the NPP ran to the Manhyia palace and prostrated profusely to beg Otumnfour to have mercy as a father.
Increasingly, chiefs around the country are exercising authorities that even Heads of State are not allowed by the Constitution to exercise.
Now it remains to be seen whether President Akufo-Addo, who is Commander-in-Chief of the country’s army will assert his authority, or that as for him, the only thing he can do is to send armed soldiers into the Volta Region to terrorize unarmed civilians.