A number of people were on the streets of Nsawam-Adoagyiri yesterday (Wednesday) protesting against the installation of a rival chief for the town by the Akyem Abuakwa Traditional Council (AATC).
The protesters, mainly chiefs and their subjects, who were clad in black and red to signify their level of seriousness, walked from the Palace to the Adoagyiri astro turf where they addressed the media.
The angry chiefs started the press conference with the pouring of libation, where they invoked the spirits of the Densu and Afram rivers deities to kill any person or group of persons who were fomenting troubles in the area.
Addressing the media, Odehyekronkron Nana Kwabena Agyapong stated that, the people of Adoagyiri had lived in peace and harmony without any hitches or scuffles since the enstoolment of Okoanadwo Afutu Dompreh II as Chief of Adoagyiri and Ankobeahene of Akyem Kotoku Traditional some fifteen years ago.
This, he continued, was amply demonstrated during this year’s Odwira Festival and the Fifteenth Anniversary Celebration of the enstoolment of Okoanadwo Afutu Dompreh II, which took place on February 18, this year.
He stressed that the massive participation and the commitment of the people amidst pomp and pageantry to celebrate the noble achievements as a community depicted the acceptance of the Chief of the area.
Giving a historic narrative of the area, Odehyekronkron Nana Kwabena Agyapong disclosed that the people of Adoagyiri belonged to the Akim Kotoku Clan, who traced their ancestry from Akim Oda before migrating to their present place of abode, Adoagyiri.
According to him, the Ankobea Division of Akim Kotoku, headed by Dompreh, the first Chief, predated the 1860s.
He continued that the founding of Nsawam by the Ankobea section of Kotoku was a direct result of the differences between Dompreh, the Ankobeahene of Akim Kotoku, and Agyemang, the Akim Kotoku King, following the Kotoku-Abuakwa war of 1860.
“Unable to tolerate his King, Dompreh withdrew with his subjects to settle at Nsawam. Under no circumstance did Dompreh or any of his successors switched their allegiance to another King, apart from the Akim Kotoku Traditional Council,” he emphasised.
Odehyekronkron Nana Kwabena said in line with customs and tradition, there had been several chiefs since time immemorial until the demise of Nana Adu Korkor II, who reigned for over fifty years.
According to him, available records indicated that all substantive Adoagyiri chiefs had been part of the Akyem Kotoku State, including the records and evidence of Okoanadwo Adu Korkoor II as Chief of Adoagyiri and Ankoabehene of the Akyem Kotoku State with gazette number “No-59” issued on 18th June, 1955 by the National House of Chiefs.
Nana Adu Korkor II was installed Chief at Adoagyiri and sent to Akyem Kotoku to swear allegiance to the then acting President of Akyem Kotoku Traditional Council, Nana Abrokwa Gyampim I (Kontihene of Akyem Kotoku), in 1953 in the absence of the Omanhene of the Akyem Kotoku Traditional Area.
Odehyekronkron Nana Kwabena averred that, regardless of these historical constructs, the assumption to the throne by Okoanadwo Afutu Dompreh II some fifteen years ago had suffered a rival faction.
According to him, the objections by this rival faction to the enstoolment of Okoanadwo Afutu Dompreh II had gone through several arbitrations, all of which upheld the right of Okoanadwo Afutu Dompreh II to the throne.
The most recent case was a judgment delivered on February 2, 2022, by the Judicial Committee of the Eastern Regional House of Chiefs, which upheld Okoanadwo Afutu Dompreh II as Chief of Adoagyiri and Ankobeahene of the Akyem Kotoku Traditional Area.
Odehyekronkron Nana Kwabena regretted that regardless of the available evidence and facts, His Excellency the President of the Republic of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, as well as other institutions, had been quiet on the rising chieftaincy matters in the area.
Odehyekronkron Nana Kwabena indicated that the 1992 Constitution had made provision for cultural rights and practices in article 26(1), which states that: ‘Every person is entitled to enjoy, practice, profess, maintain and promote any culture, language, tradition or religion subject to the provisions of the constitution.’
He argued that any attempts by any group of people to impose a rival chief would not only amount to a violation of the rights of the people of Adoagyiri as provided for by the Constitution, but would be met with the same level of violation.
The chiefs and people of the area have, therefore, called on the President, His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the Council of State, the Speaker of Parliament, and all well-meaning Ghanaians to, as a matter of urgency, look into these issues to find an amicable solution to it before it degenerates into a conflict situation.
They have further opined that despite the fact that they were peace and law-abiding people, they would rise to the occasion if their temperament was put to test by any person or group of persons.
Background
It would be recalled that, the Akyem Abuakwa Traditional Council, on Saturday, enstooled a parallel Chief at Adoagyiri near Nsawam in the Eastern Region.
The enstoolment of the new Chief, Barima Adu Korkoor III, on August 19, 2023 heightened the growing tension between Akyem Abuakwa and Akyem Kotoku paramountcies over who controls Adoagyiri.
The Youth of Adoagyiri, from the side of the Kotoku Traditional Area, averred that the installation of Barima Adu Korkor III was illegal and had the tendency to create serious insecurity in Adoagyiri if the authorities show no concern about the matter.
“What they have done, they want to turn Adoagyiri into Bawku. We will resist them because Okyenhene thinks his cousin is the President so can do anything. We will fight back,” the leader of the youth group, Barima Nana Arkoh Frimpong, declared.
Impasse between the two traditional councils has led to an injunction on the celebration of the Odwira Festival planned to be organised by Okoanadwo Afutu Dompreh II, Chief of Adoagyiri, and acting on behalf of Kotoku Traditional Council.
The Akyem Abuakwa Traditional Council, earlier at Kyebi on Monday March 13, 2023, told the media, through the State Secretary, D.M. Ofori Atta, that Adoagyiri had since historical time been part of Akyem Abuakwa and fell directly under the Apapam Stool.
