Rename Tamale International Airport after Naa Gbewah — Ya-Na
The Overlord of Dagbon, Ya-Na Abukari II, has proposed that the Tamale International Airport be renamed after the founder of the Mole-Dagbon kingdom, Naa Gbewah.
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The kingdom comprises the Dagombas, the Mamprusis and the Nanumbas.
The Ya-Na, therefore, kicked against the renaming of the airport after the late Paramount Chief of Tolon, Naa Yakubu Tali.
Petition
He said the renaming of the airport after the late Tolon Naa would be contentious and could, therefore, create needless controversies in Dagbon.
In a petition to the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, dated February 28, 2024, the Ya-Na said, " this is an unacceptable idea to me and majority of citizens of Dagbon".
He said since the announcement, the Gbewah Palace had been inundated with calls for the decision to be reversed.
"During my reign as Yo-Na Abukari VII, I personally and voluntarily released the substantial lands covering the entire expansion areas of the airport to the Government of Ghana to undertake the infrastructural development," he said.
The Overlord, therefore, entreated President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to rescind his decision and rather rename the facility after Naa Gbewah.
Proposal
President Akufo-Addo announced the proposal to rename the airport during the State of the Nation Address (SONA) in Parliament last week.
He said, "Several important tasks are lying ahead of us, one of which will be commissioning the Nana Agyeman Prempeh I International Airport in Kumasi and naming the recently commissioned airport in Tamale, the Yakubu Tali International Airport."
The late Tolon Naa Yakubu Tali was an astute traditional ruler, politician, diplomat and a founding member of the Northern People's Party (NPP).
He was born in 1916 at Tali, a village near Tolon in Northern Region. He died in 1986, aged 70.
