The Obuade Tetteygah family of Ada-Foah is appealing to the National House of Chiefs to hear the application of leave before it by the Dugabtey Gate of Ada-Foah to enable them to proceed to the Supreme Court to seek redress on a seething chieftaincy dispute in the area.
To the family, the National House of Chief’s continuous to delay in releasing a certified true copy of the full-written judgement on who is the rightful heir to the vacant Ada-Foah stool is giving the Dada Gate the impetus to misinform the people that one Terkpetey Dada is the new chief for the area.
“The Dada Gate is misleading the public about the current situation on the whole issue, by publishing a gazette dated the 21st of December, 2023 with a stamped version of the oral pronouncements by the court on 13th March, 2024.
“The Dugbatey Gate deserves a fair hearing and justice, a process it wants to seek from the Supreme Court must be allowed without any hindrance,” Nomo Isaac Tetteh Sappor, the spokesperson to the Obuade Tetteygah family, told the media at a presser at Foah.
Explaining, Nomo Isaac Tetteh Sappor said the Dada Gate, by the inherited roles of the seven outof the twelve gates of Ada-Foah, appoints a priest, which the Obuade Tetteygah family has a say, to serve the Dada shrine.
“Per the laid down accounts, practices, facts and history as bequeathed to us, heirs to the Ada-Foah stool rotates among only three Gates, namely the Nanor Gate, the Dugbatey Gate and the Sappor Gate respectively.
“All three Gates have had their turns, with the Nanor Gate having had its second with the passage of Nene Tawiah Nanor Kokote IV.
“So, it is the turn of the Dugbatey Gate to appoint and enstool an heir to succeed the late Nanor Kokote IV,” Nomo Sappor explained.
Despite knowing this, he said the Dada Gate broke the tradition and custom, an action the Dugbatey Gate petitioned the Judicial Committee of the Ada Traditional Council, who after a full-hearing, ruled the Dugbateys as the successor of the stool.
Dissatisfied, Nomo Sappor said the Dada Gate filed an appeal at the Greater Accra Regional House of Chiefs, whose Judicial Committee ruled in favour of the Dada Gate.
“Following the strange outcome from the Regional House of Chiefs, the Dugbatey Gate filed an appealed at the National House of Chiefs and on November 24, 2023 it gave an oral ruling, upholding the judgement of the Regional House of Chiefs. The House promised to release the oral ruling in five days, but that was never to be.
“Based on the oral pronouncement by the National House of Chiefs, the Dugbatey Gate filed an application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court for redress, but as of today (Thursday), the National House of Chiefs has not released the certified true copy of the full-written judgement. Neither has it given the Dugbatey Gate a date to hear their application for leave to proceed to the Supreme Court for redress.
“This has emboldened the Dada Gate to mislead the public on the current situation on the whole issue and we are unhappy. We want the National House of Chiefs to give a hearing to the application by the Dugbatey Gate,” he pointed out.
He said until the National House of Chiefs releases the certified true copy of the full-written judgement of the matter before it, Ada-Foah has no substantive chief and they would not recognise anybody as such.
“We are poised and determined to protect our heritage and rights at all cost. Therefore, we expect the functional authorities–the Ghana Police Service and the Office of the East Ada DCE–to exhibit professionalism without fear or favour.
“They should stop addressing the Dada Gate at public functions as the heir of the Ada-Foah stool. We are unhappy and it is generating seeming tensions.
“By our traditions, customs and practices, the Asafoatse from the Nene Kerker Zomabi Gate, which is their preserve, takes the lead role, full responsibility in all traditional, customary and administrative duties in a caretaker position until a substantive chief is enstooled for Ada-Foah. This is what we know and will recognise. Ada-Foah has no substantive chief,” Nomo Sappor emphasised.
