Dagbon culture was on display on Thursday at Yendi when thousands of people including chiefs and government officials thronged the Gbewaa Palace to witness the funeral of Yaa Naa Yakubu Andani II.
Kampakuya-Naa Yakubu Andani Abdulai, Regent of Dagbon, flanked by the chief of Kumbungu, Alhaji Naa Abu Iddrisu II and Kintl-Naa Kamaldeen Shahadu, amidst drumming and dancing, circumambulated the Gbewah Palace three times on horses, an important custom of the Dagbon Kingdom, as part of the funeral.
The ceremony was witnessed by a government delegation, led by the Vice President, Alhaji Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, and Ministers of State, Members of Parliament, Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives, chiefs and people from the Dagbon Kingdom amongst others.
A delegation, representing the Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, led by Baffour Asabere Ababio III, Otumfuo Nsumankwahene, was also present during the ceremony and presented GHC 5,000 cash, soft drinks, two bottles of schnapps, a bag of kola amongst others to the chiefs and elders of the Andani Royal Family.
The event was in line with the road map outlined by the Committee of Eminent Chiefs mediating the Dagbon chieftaincy crisis to restore peace to the traditional area.
On November 21, last year, the Committee of Eminent Chiefs mediating the Dagbon chieftaincy crisis, presented to President Nana Akufo-Addo at the Jubilee House in Accra a road map for the performance of the funerals of the late Yaa-Naa Mahamadu Abdulai IV and Yaa-Naa Yakubu Andani II as part of efforts to resolve the Dagbon chieftaincy crisis.
According to the road map, the Abudu Royal Family was to perform the funeral of the late Yaa-Naa Mahamadu Abdulai IV from December 14, 2018 to December 28, 2018 at the Gbewaa Palace at Yendi and vacate the palace to allow the Andani Royal Family to also enter the palace from January 04, 2019 to January 18, 2019 to perform the funeral of the late Yaa-Naa Yakubu Andani II.
The day’s event, therefore, marked the end of funerals for the two late Overlords of the Dagbon Kingdom and paved the way for a substantive Yaa-Naa to be selected and enskinned to rule over the Dagbon Kingdom.
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