Minister of State, Jake Obekyebi Lamptey, announced his death on March 27, 2002. News of his death and the gruesome manner in which it took place shook the entire country and has since affected the lives of Dagombas in Ghana and beyond in diverse ways especially with regard to their political affiliations. Dagbon citizens who occupied prominent government positions were inescapably caught up in the dispute. Some ministers and government appointees resigned under the heat of the dispute. Aliu Mahama, then Vice President of Ghana, vehemently refused to comment on the matter. Death of Yakubu II set a lot of Dagombas against the Government of John Agyekum Kufuor (incumbent 2002), further deepening the common asseveration that Dagombas are more generally sympathetic towards the National Democratic Congress than the New Patriotic Party.