Mr Bugri Naabu, it’s time to talk

Just when I thought anything and everything linked to goats have been knocked out of the Ghanaian political lexicon, an abattoir seems to have been opened. And guess who is supposed to be the operator of the abattoir – Mr Daniel Bugri Naabu.

This is just a chunk of the debris from the street fight between Mr Bugri Naabu, the Northern Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and Madam Otiko Afisa Djaba, the Minister for Gender and Social Protection.

Hear me out; this is not something to be laughed at. A lot of productive hours have already been lost discussing the kind of goats that have found their way into the abattoir. “Has there been a sokoto gudali”, I heard someone ask.

Very few people would dispute the fact that Mr Bugri Naabu is a very controversial figure. But very few people would have thought that he would descend this low.

So here is the genesis of the dispute: the Gender Minister is alleged to have met some women in Tamale. The object of the meetings is hard to tell. According to Mr Naabu the meeting was essentially to influence who gets to be appointed as a caterer in the government’s school feeding programme.

Others have alleged that the meeting had to do with the appointment of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives. Whatever be the truth, the purpose of the meeting was definitely not for an illegal or devious purpose. It was just a meeting.

If it was just a meeting, why then was Mr Naabu so enraged to the point where he considered it prudent to disrupt the meeting? His ego was hurt. After all, in his own words, he decided to disrupt the meeting because he was convinced the meeting was not only “unconstitutional” but also “illegal”.

 In his world, every party person has to seek permission from him before holding a meeting in the Northern Region – I guess.

What can one say? This is beyond outrageous. Of course, the Gender Minister has not made things any better. Right from her vetting, her posture has been that of belligerence.

Indeed, she has not demonstrated and exercised any form of restraint in her public pronouncement on most occasions. She alleged that Mr Bugri Naabu had resorted to the collection of sheep and goats for favours.

This was an unfortunate allegation. And some would say, “If you can dish it out, you can take it all” then.

But my position is simple – Mr Bugri Naabu is to blame for this. And he deserves to be sanctioned for his unruly public conduct.

These are not ordinary times. We have seen vigilante groups in recent times take the law into their own hands. They have hurt people. They have vandalised property. They have taken over revenue generating activities. They have created a general sense of insecurity in their area of operations.

In all of these, the argument has been that the thugs are distant from the NPP.  But the conduct of Mr Bugri Naabu can only go to show that persons with authority sanction some of these violent acts that we have seen.

The incident here may have been just a small meeting. But the principle remains - he did not have any right or justification to disrupt the meeting. If he could go ahead and order the disruption of the meeting, he could equally send someone or some thugs to disrupt meetings and gatherings that he disagrees with.

Others are and will be learning from him. This should not be countenanced. It is clear that he has for long thought of himself as the “law”. He can therefore, at his pleasure, determine what gatherings are constitutional and what gatherings are not.

No man or woman has the right to go and disperse a lawful gathering (just because he or she feels like). Of course, I appreciate arguments being made regarding having respect for political and internal protocols.

All of these are understood. But none of these considerations overshadows Mr Bugri Naabu’s unorthodox mode of dispute resolution.  It is clearly wrong and he must face up to it.

It is clear and obvious that if Mr Bugri Naabu had been more gracious and diplomatic about this particular issue, the two personalities and indeed the NPP would have been in a better position.

So what is Mr Naabu supposed to do? He should simply continue being chairman until he is removed. As a chairman of a political party, he needs not to be reminded of how sensitive the position he holds is.

He needs not be reminded about the fact that every now and then he may be called upon to be a mediator either locally or indeed in national politics. He needs not to be reminded that as a chairman, he has a moral obligation to remain sober and reflective at all times.

I have heard the apology of the Gender and Social Protection Minister. It’s time to hear from Mr Bugri Naabu as well.

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P/S: Mr Naabu is reported to have said he owed the Gender Minister no apology. He indicated his intention to report her conduct to the National Council of the party to discipline Ms Djaba.
Mr Naabu insisted that Ms Djaba had no right to visit the region without his knowledge.