Ziblim Abdulai, the second prosecution witness in the Ya-Na murder trial, Tuesday implicated the former District Chief Executive for Yendi in the New Patriotic Party regime, Mohammed Habib Tijani, and a senior military officer he did not name in the murder of the late Ya-Na Yakubu Andani II, the Overlord of Dagbon. He alleged that while the former DCE used his influence to have a curfew imposed on Dagbon, the senior military officer did not heed the call of the late king to rescue him from the palace when it was attacked. Abdulai, a farmer, was giving his evidence-in-chief in the trial in which 15 people, including the former DCE, are alleged to have conspired to murder the late king. Fourteen of the accused persons have pleaded not guilty to one count of conspiracy to murder the Ya-Na, while another person, Zakaria Yakubu, now at large, is facing one count of murder of the Ya-Na. The accused persons are Alhaji Baba Abdulai Iddrisu, aka Zohe, Kwame Alhassan, aka Achiri, Mohamadu Abdulai, aka Samasama, Sayibu Mohammed, Alhassan Braimah and Alhaji Mohammed Habib Tijani, the former DCE for Yendi during the New Patriotic Party (NPP) regime, and Iddrisu Iddi. The rest are Alhassan Mohammed, alias Mohammed Cheampon, Abukari Nabeli, aka Kunkakums or Kooms, Mohammed Mustapha, Yakubu Yusif, aka Leftee, Abdul Razak Yussif, aka Nyaa, and Shani Imoro. Led in evidence by Ms Gertrude Aikins, the Director of Public Prosecutions, the witness, whose attack in March 2002 is said to have sparked of the conflict, gave an account of how he was attacked by some Abudu youth and the subsequent conflict in the area. He said when the attack intensified, the late king could not come out of his palace and for that reason he was sent as an emissary to deliver a message to the attackers to cease forthwith but they declined. According to Abdulai, when the attackers refused to heed the call to cease fire, he was asked by the Ya-Na to call the soldiers to his rescue for which reason he jumped over a palace wall and ran to the military barracks to deliver the SOS message. He said the soldiers asked him to remove his clothes and some talismans he used to protect himself and gave him some beatings. "I recognised the DCE and a police officer I was initially referred to after my attack and I told the DCE that the king said he should ask the soldiers to come to his rescue," he said. Abdulai said the DCE replied that the soldiers would not go anywhere because the local people had failed to comply with the curfew. Abdulai said he then told the DCE that he did know the DCE had brought in soldiers to kill their fathers. He said a senior military officer also insulted the late king as being a foolish man, adding that while at the barracks he heard drumming and dancing and other sounds indicating that something had happened. "I heard the DCE tell the military officer that 'we have succeeded' after which the soldier went into his office and came out with a gun and asked for the driver of the armoured car," he claimed. The witness said the military officer asked the DCE and another person to join him to go and bring the Ya-Na and when they returned from their purported rescue, two young men who accompanied them said the Ya-Na had been killed. After that he said the military officer went into his officer again but this time came with a can of petrol to set ablaze the talismans and clothes taken from him and another person with whom he was locked in a room until the following day. During cross-examination by Mr Philip Addison, lead counsel for the accused, persons, Abdulai said he did not know the killers of the Ya-Na and denied that he had gone round the town boasting that the people would know who the true Ya-Na was by Monday. He admitted that there was exchange of fire 'between the - Abudus and Andanis during which he also fired a single barrel gun in order to contain the attackers of the palace. Abdulai further denied that when he was summoned to the police station, a number of rounds of ammunition were found on him. He also denied seeking to implicate the DCE and military in the matter. When the jurors sought an explanation regarding what he meant by containing the attackers, Abdulai said the late king asked those in the palace to use single barrel guns to contain them and that they should not allow the attackers to kill the chiefs. Earlier, the first prosecution witness, Abukari Amadu, concluded his evidence under cross-examination and denied that a senior military officer had told the Wuako Commission that 150 ,firearms were hidden in the Gbewaa-Palace at the time of the incident. He mentioned the name of an auto electrician who, he said, went to the palace on March 26, 2002 while the firing was still ongoing as only Hudu and denied suggestions by counsel that he (Witness) did not testify this piece of evidence in the trial of Yidana Sugri for the same offence for which the current accused persons were in court. Asked whether he knew one Janhinfo Pache, the witness replied in the affirmative and described, Jahinfo as an Andani warrior in the camp of the Ya-Na but who, at the time of the attack, had crossed carpet to the Abudus and therefore was no longer an Andani. Counsel put it to the witness that it was Jahinfo who was going round burning Andani houses but Abdulai said although he heard it he did not personally see it. Asked further if he knew one Ibrahim Abu Zorge, the witness replied in the affirmative and indicated that Zorge was brought up in the palace but when he grew up, he turned an Abudu and refuse to go back to the palace. Hearing continues Wednesday. Source: Daily Graphic