After 15 years of legal tussle, the Supreme Court finally declared the Dasana Andani family as the rightful heirs to the Bimbilla throne, in a landmark judgment on Wednesday.
The ruling is coming on the back of previous ruling by the Northern Regional House of chiefs in favour of the Dasana Family, which was affirmed by the National House of Chief in 2014.
Tens of people have died as a result of the chieftaincy dispute in Bimbilla in the Northern region.
The court in a judgement read by Justice Gabriel Pwamang described the claim to the throne by rival Nakpaa Naa Dawuni family as lacking merit, insisting that Naa Andani Dasana Abdulai was properly selected and enskined by the appropriate authority.
The case was sat on by Justice Anin Yeboah, Justice Baffoe Bonnie, Justice Yaw Apaw and Justice Gabriel Pwamang.
Nakpa Naa Salifu Dawuni, a matrilineal great-grandson to the Bimbila Skin lineage first challenged the legitimacy of the Defendant, a Patrilineal grandson to the Bimbila skin, before the NaYiri, overload of Manprugu, and lost the case.
He later appealed the ruling of the Nayiri and lost at at the Regional House of Chiefs. He was not satisfied and proceeded to the National House of Chiefs and suffered another defeat.
He finally resorted to the Supreme Court which also upheld the decision of the House of Chiefs.
History into the Bimbilla chieftaincy
The Nanun kingdom was founded by Naa Nmantambu in the thirteenth century and like many African societies with kingship succession issues, they arise from time to time.
Succession to the Bimbilla Skin is patrilineal and requires direct blood relationship with past Bimbilla. In other words, to ascend to the skin, a prospective applicant must be a son of a Bimbilla Naa or a patrilineal grandson of a Bimbilla Naa.
Conflicts over succession are not new but the traditional system has mechanisms for resolving such conflicts; and in modern times, they include the Traditional Council, Regional House of Chiefs and the National House of Chiefs, and the judicial system of the Republic of Ghana.
From Naa Nmantambu to Bimbilla Naa Andani Dasana Abdulai (2004-2014), Nanun has produced thirty-two (32)kings. The current impasse between Bimbilla Naa Andani Dasana Abdulai and the late Nakpa Naa Salifu Dawuni over succession is not new, but what is new is an attempt to introduce a matrilineal inheritance system in Nanun.
CLICK TO READ FULL ARTICLE Dr. Danaa Nantogmah
Source: 3news.com | Ghana]]>
