The overlord of Dagbon Yaa-Naa Abubakar Mahama II has celebrated the Fire Festival in Yendi for the first time in seventeen years after it was banned.

The celebration of the fire festival in 2002 was the Genesis of the Dagbon chieftaincy conflict that lasted for over a decade. The late Yaa-Naa Abdulai Yakubu Andani II and 40 of his elders were killed during the period bringing Dagbon onto its knees. 

Following a road map and the mediation by the committee of eminent chiefs, a resolution was reached in 2018, paving the way for the enskinment of a new Yaa Naa in 2019.

Speaking to the media the Northern Regional Minister Salifu Saeed who joined the people of Yendi to celebrate the fire festival said the celebration marks a significant landmark in the peace brokered for the area.

He said it would further cement the peace the area is currently enjoying. 

The Yendi Municipal Chief Executive Alhaji Hammed Abubakari Yussif said the youth have been cautioned against bringing offensive weapons to the festival as a means to ensure casualties are not recorded.

The fire festival is celebrated in Northern Ghana by Muslims and traditionalists in the first month of the lunar year.