The Ranking Member on Parliament’s Defence and Interior Committee, James Agalga, has taken a U-turn on his attacks on Defence Minister, Dominic Nitiwul.
The Ranking Member had called on the Minister to recuse himself from the mediation processes in the Konkomba-Chokosi conflict.
[contextly_sidebar id=”qn0tERJo6AKcKPGk211JcQuMTHRlwNLN”]Mr. Agalga argued that Mr. Nitiwul being a Konkomba himself could not be seen to be impartial in the process.
But barely a day after making the call, the former Deputy Interior Minister has back-tracked.
He now says Mr. Nitiwul has satisfactorily explained himself.
“The Minister has subsequently explained to me that he actually led a delegation of Chokosi chiefs in Accra and some other important personalities coming from the Chokosi community as well as leading Konkomba citizens to the area to try to appeal to the feuding factions.”
“So in a way, he did not spearhead any mediation effort. He only led Chokosi members as well as Konkombas to travel together and met with both sides of the conflict and asked them to lay down their arms. If that is the case, I should say I will not have a problem at all with such an initiative coming from a leader that is Konkomba, given the fact that he was accompanied by a Chokosi.”
Mr. Nitiwul led a delegation of opinion leaders from the two feuding factions to the troubled town of Saboba.
This is his second visit to the area, after a similar visit to Chereponi last Friday.
Members of his entourage included the Regional Minister, leaders from the Konkomba side and the former Regional Minister, Moses Magbenga as part of a high powered inter-party and inter-ethnic delegation to ensure lasting peace.
Other members of the delegation to Chereponi included the current Northern Regional Minister, Salifu Saeed, North East Regional Minister, Solomon Boar, past and current Members of Parliament from the area as well as a host of senior military and police officers.
The Konkombas and Chokosis renewed a longstanding clash that has claimed one life.
There have also been multiple arrests over recent clashes in the area.