Executives of the National Democratic Party in the Tolon constituency in the Northern Region on Tuesday, October 11, 2024, held a crisis meeting in the constituency capital, Tolon.

According to the party’s Director of Communications, Dr. Seidu Fitter, the meeting was held in response to comments by the traditional chief of Gbrumani, a farming community 30 kilometers west of Tolon.

The chief, Naa Mohammed Abdulai, while addressing a mini rally held at his palace by the Member of Parliament, Habib Iddrisu, publicly declared his support for the New Patriotic Party and its presidential and parliamentary candidates.

The chief further evoked spirits of the land to strike with misfortune and/or even death any constituents who will cast their votes for the opposition National Democratic Congress party and its candidates.

“Since I inherited this position from my late father, today is going to be the first time to make a public political statement”, the chief began his comments.

“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 Lana Mohammed Abdulai said amidst loud cheers and thunderous applause.

The chief continued, “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 then proceeded to attempt to explain his reasons for the declarations.

“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”.

The chief stated further, “Bawumia and I have met only once but I can say he’s morally upright. We pray to God not to lead Ghana astray, a prayer he repeated three times before asking the gathering to answer amen to. I pray Habib becomes victorious”.

The comments triggered varied responses from individuals and groups across the constituency, including the opposition NDC which was the target of the chief’s statements. Later, there were reports of uneasy calm in the community. The NDC executives convened a meeting to discuss the matter.

Speaking to JoyNews, the constituency Communications Officer condemned the chief’s pronouncements as ‘baseless, reckless political talk’. Dr. Seidu Fitter revealed that the party has decided to petition the Dagbon Traditional Area to call the chief to order.

“The chief said, this is going to be his first time making a political comment since he became a chief, and that was a lie! You had done worse than that in 2012. First of all, we are a responsible political party and we believe that the chiefs are development partners. Again, we believe that at his age, he should have reflected on the repercussions of what he was going to say. 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”.

Dr. Fitter further disclosed that the NDC provided most of the infrastructural projects in the community and its vicinity.

“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 Rawlins 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”.

According to Dr. Fitter, the second dam in the community was provided by a candidate contesting to become the traditional chief at the time the skin was declared vacant. “As we speak, that dam is named after this chief, Saha Naa Moagli”.

He added that the borehole facility currently under construction was being provided by the NDC parliamentary candidate and a Lecturer at the University for Development Studies (UDS).

“So again, the issue of water was completely flawed, because if your ancestors are going to act on truth, then you would die first because the dam was not given by the NPP. Number two, the road that he claimed if you used without voting the NPP you would die, was given by the NDC. The pavilion structure where he sat to make those comments was given to him in 2011/2012 by an NDC appointed District Chief Executive by the name Iddi Manza Mahama, appointed by Professor Mills, for the first time since the history of Gbrumani.

"Again, the house he’s occupying now and made those claims was constructed by the former governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr Abdul Nashiru Issahaku; the whole palace done by Dr. Nasiru, a former appointee of the NDC government. His royal court was built by Dr. Nasiru, and the ceiling fans operating in that room were provided by the 2020 parliamentary candidate for the NDC”.

The NDC Communications Officer exposed further that the former Minority Leader and MP for Tamale South, Haruna Iddrisu, provided funds in 2020 for the chief to repair his broken down pickup vehicle. According to him, the first primary school was provided by Rawlings. “So nothing has Habib done for them”, Dr. Fitter dismissed contemptibly.

Dr. Seidu Fitter said the party after a forensic assessment believed the chief’s conduct could have been motivated by two factors.

“One, either because he went away with that reckless action in 2012 or he was still hurt by the outcome of the 2020 elections where the NDC won two out of the three ballot boxes in the community. Another motivation could be that Habib might have gifted him a tractor or he wanted to attract the MP’s attention for his share of the donations of farm equipment”.

Dr. Fitter also disclosed the chief had since invited the party branch executives to a meeting where he rendered an unqualified apology, but according to the Communications Director, the apology was rejected.

He said the party executives after Tuesday’s meeting had decided to formally petition the Paramount Chief of Tolon, the Gbewa Palace, and the Northern Regional House of Chiefs to investigate the conduct of the chief.

“We are releasing a statement to call on the Dagbon Traditional Council to call him to order because we will not sit aloof for him to threaten our members or anybody within the Gbrumani community; because we have laws in this country and he goes beyond his jurisdiction the law would have to take its course, and we won’t have any option than to support the system”.