A Deputy Information Minister, Baba Jamal, says the National Democratic Congress (NDC) never promised to find the killers of the overlord of Dagbon, Ya Na Yakubu Andani prior to coming into office. The ruling party, according to him, instead promised to investigate the death of the overlord and others who died with him. The death of the Dagbon overlord became a major campaign issue during the 2008 electioneering campaigns. And the NDC capitalized on the crisis to gain political advantage over its opponents. The party in its 2008 manifesto said "We will set up a new and truly non-partisan, professionally competent and independent Presidential Commission to reopen investigations into the murder of the Ya Na, Yakubu Andani II and his followers in March 2002." The Mills-led administration charged 15 individuals for the murders contrary to the campaign pledge to set up a presidential commission to reopen investigations into the issue but the accused were all acquitted and discharged by an Accra High Court. Andani youth, dissatisfied with government’s handling of the matter so far, have threatened to vote against the NDC in the upcoming elections. A Deputy Information Minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has said the youth cannot blackmail government with votes, a statement that has further angered the youth. President Mills himself earlier this year told a delegation of Andanis he had no regrets promising to find the killers of the Ya Na. "If we say that we are going to find the killers of Ya-Na...and bring them to book and that is politicization I owe nobody any apology for saying so," he said. But speaking on Peace FM’s news analysis programme Kokrokoo Friday, Baba Jamal said it was incorrect for anybody to say the NDC promised to find the killers of Ya Na, insisting the party never made any such promise. He said the party’s official position, as stated in its manifesto, was to investigate the matter – a process he thinks government has tackled. Baba Jamal urged the Andani youth to exercise patience and cooperate with government to resolve the crisis peacefully and in accordance with the rule of law since the President - in his quest to solve the problem - does not want to trample upon the rights of others. Mr Kofi Adams, spokesperson of former President Jerry John Rawlings, conceded that the governing NDC profited greatly from the crisis, saying the responsibility rested on the shoulders of government to ensure the issue was thoroughly investigated. He advised Mr Okudzeto Ablakwa to desist from making statements that will inflame passions.