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Gonja Tribesman Takes on Starr FM’s Correspondent in an Op-ed

Mr Issifu Seidu Kudus Gbeadese, Author

I have resisted several attempts to engage this Eliasu Mohammed Tanko who claim to be a journalist but, this time I couldn’t hold my breath after engaging him for the first time today on his useless post on Facebook seeking to patronize unsuspecting public into believing that Gonjalanders were/are the aggressors in the recent Wasipe chieftaincy disturbances. He sounded populist and tried to indirectly cause disaffection for Gonjalanders.

Eliasu Mohammed Tanko is an ardent adversary of Gonjaland. In fact, he’s a common beggar of a journalist who goes cup in hand looking for damaging stories about Gonjaland in order to increase the weight of his bargaining basket. He has done his worse to our land sometimes with the assistance from ourselves and I think it is getting to that time for us to stand up and face his wrath with all our might.

From just common disagreements which are usual in any democratic set ups to sensitive ethnic feuds, Eliasu Tanko stood his grounds to report the negatives of my land (GONJALAND). His agenda is clear though, but I thought he was going to hasten slowly and look a little smarter in executing this agenda. But he seems to be overwhelmed by his ego and the cheques he receives from his pay masters and these has made common sense to elude him. I just hope STAR FM is monitoring his agenda against Gonjaland and would act appropriately.

Someone should whisper this to the ears of Eliasu that, Gonjas were never created cowards and never shall we ever be. The only reason he still can muster courage to step his foot to our land to engage in his negative agenda is because Gonjalanders are not only civilized but one of the most accommodating ethnic groups which accepts stranger’s shit over it’s own most of the time.

This same Eliasu reported to his mother station (STAR FM) that Gonjaland has only 5 Districts as opposed to the 7 Districts which are documented and recognized as such. This was just meant to shoot down our weight in the wake of the demand for a region.

This same Tanko went as far as denigrating the Overlord of the Gonja Kingdom all in the name of his empty journalism. Several reports have been made about him but he seems to be enjoying the controversy around his senseless reporting on the activities in Gonjaland. I challenge Eliasu Tanko to do same on Dagbon or Mamprugu or any other smaller ethnic groups in Northern Region if indeed he claims to be such a serious journalist.

I thought we were all in a free world where opinions are sacred and individualized. Why would Empty Eliasu block me when I took it to his wall to teach him the ethics of his profession and to let him know we are watching him from the roofs and would respond appropriately in due course. His instigative news feed on their news portals and on his Facebook wall usually enjoy loop-sided responses and feedback without any such direct responses from those of us who feel the realities of his useless journalism. I thought he was a man who can stand the heat of the profession he chose for himself. Why block me on Facebook when I decided to face you and your surrogates on such useless news items? Shameless coward he is and would forever be.

I want to believe that the current pockets of troubles brewing in Wasipe were well planned, staged, executed and being reported on by the pay masters of Eliasu Tanko and himself. If their agenda is to tag Gonjaland with aggression and warmongering, he should better think again because we have won already. Go to hell Eliasu Tanko!

The great warrior in history (NDEWURA JAKPA) in his wisdom never chased any group of people he and his army conquered in his days. He accepted them to still occupy the lands although they were conquered. He never made them slaves which was one of the usual practices then. He never made them prisoners of war. He accepted them as partners on the land (our land). Is it not a practice that these groups must pay homage to the chiefs and people of Gonjaland?

In the particular case on the Wasipe chieftaincy issues, Eliasu Tanko again waded into this with yet another grand scheme of his and his pay masters to cause an image damage to Gonjaland. It is an opened secret that Kadichira, Eliasu Tanko and some of his rented media outlets in the Northern region and their grand schemers in Mamprugu triggered this conflict in order to make a case for their agenda of seeking a region carved for them in that part of the land. Seeing the extent Gonjaland has gone in this pursuit and without a cogent case for their part of the argument for a region, they have decided to soil the image of Gonjaland just so we would loose focus in this pursuit.

May I remind Eliasu Tanko that, if indeed he cares for humanity and he is so much into reporting about “lost hopes”, he should look well under his feet to clean the mess around him before stretching his long-bought-neck into Gonjaland and it’s pot of soup.

It is well known that Gonjalanders are a peace loving people, we are development oriented and we have shown same over the period, so it is not today that flies like Eliasu Tanko would want to paint us as the aggressors.

I wish to call on Mr Eliasu Tanko to search for the audio of an interview on Diamond FM in Tamale where his Pay Master Kadichira who claimed to be the paramount chief of “Tampulma Traditional Area” (which doesn’t exist in Gonjaland anyway), in which that coward Kadichira admitted that he pays homage to the King of the Gonja Kingdom Yagbonwura Tuntumba Boresa 1. So if that were the case, how come he carried himself as the Paramount chief of the Tampulma Traditional Area and seeking to carve that land for another land in Mamprugu in the wake of the submission of the petition by Mamprugu in seeking for a region? How do we reconcile these two positions?

I want to remind Eliasu Tanko that his reports on Bole Chieftaincy issues, Damongo Chieftaincy issues, Buipe chieftaincy issues Wasipe and other related cases in Gonjaland were/are well noted, it’s just a matter of time for us to get to the narrow bridge. He can make his dimes today out of these dirty journalism, but when the caves come crushing on him and his image in future, he should be expected to look back on the damage he caused Gonjaland.

I don’t blame Eliasu Tanko in isolation anyway, it is the partly the fault of the greedy, self-seeking front liners in Gonjaland who only get their pockets lined with the sweat of others and the natural resources the land is endowed with; they have questions to answer from posterity. Some people in Gonjaland feed from hypocrisy, others as well get their orgasms so easily when there is controversy. But those who make their daily wages out of these disturbances without looking back at what the future holds for all of us including their great grand children, I want to remind them that it takes just the same time a football match last to get 6 ft dug. We shall all go down, it is just a matter of time.

We must all bow our heads in shame for the happenings in Gonjaland especially our chiefs who can’t go to the back room to settle simple home-made squabbles any longer. Why must it be the media to set the agenda for us to destroy ourselves? Why must it be the rented press to design a dispute resolution strategy for us? Was that what the great Warrior (NDEWURA JAKPA) left us with?

Deceit! Stealing! Bloodletting! Intimidation! Flirting!

I shall be back.

By Issifu Seidu Kudus Gbeadese

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