Members of the Fulani Association of Bawku and Binduri, in the Upper East Region, have given a five-day ultimatum to NDC’s deputy communications officer in the Binduri constituency, Paul Abagre Ayamba, to retract a disparaging comment he made against the Second Lady, Hajia Samira Bawumia, and apologise to her accordingly.
The Aggrieved Fulanis see the comment as “sexually abusive, ethnocentric and an insult to all Fulanis.”
Commenting on a statement by the Second Lady regarding how the NDC responds to comments by her husband, Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia, the NDC communications officer used unprintable words to suggest that Mrs Bawumia has been involved in extra-marital affairs.
The unprovoked attacks on the Second Lady followed her interview on Accra- based Asempa FM on March 10 in which she appealed to NDC members to always challenge her husband with facts rather than throwing insults at him anytime he speaks.
Tribal attack
Members of the Association wonder why the NDC officer sought to relate the statement by the Second Lady to her tribe. “Couldn’t he have responded to her statement without bringing her tribe into it?” they quizzed.
“We the Fulani Association do not only find these comments as derogatory and ethnocentric, but also an attack on all Fulanis and other minority tribes within Binduri and beyond.
“These tribally segregating comments have the potential of derailing the peace that co-exists between the various tribes in Binduri,” Kuridu Mohammed Mumuni, president of the Association, said at a press conference at Bawku.
NDC’s complicity
The group expressed disappointment at the deafening silence of the NDC and the MP for the area, Dr Robert Baba Kuganab-Lem, about the distasteful comment from their officer, saying that constitute a tacit endorsement of the statement.
They have therefore called on Kusaug Traditional Council, Bawku Inter-Ethnic Peace Committee, gender rights activists, civil society organisations, human rights organisations and peace-loving Ghanaians to condemn the comment “and order him to, as a matter of urgency, retract these tribal insults and apologise unconditionally to all Fulanis or face our wrath within five days.”
They also cautioned all political parties “to treat us with outmost respect in their public engagements.”
“The Fulanis are very cognizant of our right to personal dignity. For that matter, any attempt to trample upon this right will be met with full resistance going forward,” they warned.
They further called on the various security agencies to act on the issue which they say is against Article 17(2) of the 1992 Constitution, which states that “no citizen shall be discriminated against on the basis of gender, race or religion.”
