The Overlord of the Dagbon Traditional Area in the Northern Part of the country has pleaded with media houses to using an overly recycled picture of him in a funeral attire.
In a statement released on August 12, 2020, the bewildered king said he wishes “…to humbly draw the attention of all Media Houses that, that the office has observed with keen interest the constant use of a particular picture of the king, anytime they want to carry news related to Naa Gbewaa’s Palace.”
The letter signed by the palace secretary Abdul-Rahman Mohammed said the regalia in the favourite picture of the media was a funeral regalia worn during the funeral ceremony of his deceased father.
“According to the Dagbon tradition, the said picture, though is of the king, actually portrayed that the regalia worn indicated that the king was in the process of performing his father’s funeral rites,” the statement read, adding that since the traditional leader in no longer in mourning, the picture should be discarded.
The palace went ahead to provide a more dignifying picture to replace the irksome picture of the powerful traditional leader.
Curiously, the statement also announced that the Yaa-Naa is changing his name to Ya-Na Abukari II instead of Ya-Na Abukari Mahama II that he bore when he was enskinned.
Critics have noted with curious interest why he has yanked “Mahama” from his name just when there is a presidential election looming with one of the candidate bearing Mahama. Incidentally, the President, Nana Akufo Addo happens to be playing close to the Ya-Na at the moment with him scheduling a number of visits and inaugurations in the Yendi Kingdom in the past months.