ALHAJI ISSAH BUKAR & ORS v. MAHAMA BAYONG & ORS

AKAMBA, JSC;-

This is an appeal from the decision of Judicial Committee of the National House of Chiefs (herein after simply NHC) which affirmed an earlier decision by the Judicial Committee of the Upper West Regional House of chiefs (simply referred to as UWRHC) against the petitioners/appellants/appellants herein in a dispute over who is the appropriate person under customary law of the Wala Traditional area to convene a meeting for the nomination and election of a Wa-Na.

This chieftaincy dispute is one of the numerous such disputes that have plagued the Northern parts of our dear country over the years with the unpleasant consequence of sapping the energies and resources of whole communities which could have been spent in productive ventures. This case commenced by petition at the UWRHC in 2007. In between the time of filing in 2007 and the present appeal before us this 2014 what has been dissipated in the nature of financial resources and man hours, not to speak of the level of disunity in leadership, is anybody’s guess. The saddening part of the whole matter is the narrowness of the issue that has brought the parties this far. It is hoped that traditional councils all over the country will follow the example of the few councils that have documented their customary practices and resort to documentation thereof rather than reliance upon oral traditions which are easily lost or forgotten. This is not to suggest that codification or documentation will completely eradicate disputes but will make for ease of resolution of them.

BRIEF FACTS

In this presentation the petitioners/appellants/appellants would be referred to simply as the appellant/s whilst the respondents/respondents/respondents would be referred to as the respondent/s.

On 3rd September 2006 Wa Naa, Naa Yakubu Seidu Soalle II passed on. A vacancy was thus created in the Wa Paramount skin. In order to fill this vacant traditional position, the 1st respondent in his capacity as Tindana/Widana of Wa and purported lead kingmaker, invited other Kingmakers of the Wa Paramouncy to a meeting for the purpose of nominating and electing a new Wa Naa. The meeting took place on 19th January 2007 and attended by five out of the seven recognized Kingmakers. The outcome of the meeting was the election of the 3rd respondent as the new Wa Naa. The 3rd respondent was en-skinned as the Wa-Naa and the President of the Wala Traditional Council (WTC) on 21st January 2007. The appellants, contending that the electi