One of the Kingmakers in the Aowin Traditional Area, Nana Adu Kwame III, who is also the Chief of Nyankoman and Kyidomhene of the Council, has stated that Beyeeman Tano Kwaw Benbuin III, known in private life as Thomas Antwi Adjei, was properly nominated and enstooled as Omanhene of Aowin Traditional Area in the Western North Region.
Setting the record straight in a press statement, the Kyidomhene indicated that he was the only Kingmaker among five others presently alive, who enstooled the sitting Omanhene.
“There are five Kingmakers on the Annor Asemah Oyoko Paramount Stool in Aowin. I, Nana Adu Kwame III, the Chief of Nyankomam and the Kyidomhene of the Aowin Traditional Area, am the only one alive, and I have called you, journalists, today to set the records straight.
“This is to counter the many falsehoods thrown into the public sphere, just to deceive unsuspecting people on the Aowin Paramount Stool, including our customs and traditions by one Louis Yamoah (aka Nana Kwame Nkansah).
“I, Nana Adu Kwame III, one of the Kingmakers on the Aowin Paramount Stool and the only one alive, was present when the Omanhemaa, the grandmother of the Omanhene, Beyeeman Tano Kwaw Benbuin III (or the Queenmother) of the Aowin Traditional Area, called us the five Kingmakers in 2013 to communicate to us the person she had nominated, and who had been vetted by the royal family, as the next Omanhene of the Aowin Traditional Area.
“As our customs and traditions go, this is a highly secret affair, which is not written in any Kingmaker’s report as Mr. Louis Yamoah has been lying about. Mr. Louis Yamoah was not even an Odikro in 2013 when this happened. He was not one of us and the Queenmother does not know him. So, it is strange that he was on UTV claiming that the current Omanhene’s grandmother never nominated him! This is palpable falsehood,” the Kyidomhene stated in the press statement.
Setting the record straight on what he described as “the so-called Kingmakers Report”, the Kyidomhene explained that, there were five Kingmakers on the Aowin Paramount Stool; namely, the Gyasehene, the Baamuhene, the Tufuhene, Adumhene and himself, the Kyidomhene.
“However, the so-called fictitious Kingmakers Report only has a forged signature of the late Gyasehene, Nana Ekomah Annor. We have his real signature for the sake of evidence. Secondly, there is no other signature of any other Kingmaker.
“Thirdly, the reports, believed to have been written in 2018, are two and have two different dates (10th January 2018 and 15th January 2018). As one can imagine, the facts in the reports are different: the first purports to name Nana Nyameah Payin as the candidate for the Yakasi Adiakyire Stool and Bullu Agyei for the Aowin Paramount Stool, while the second omits Nana Nyameah Payin from it. This falsehood is contained in the so-called report!”
Kyidomhene Nana Adu Kwame continued, “The report then makes the erroneous claim that Ellis Famieh Duncan is from the maternal line of Twumwaa Payin. This is a substantial lie and quite unfortunate when, indeed, it is an open secret that the sister of Ame Payin (that is Twumwaa Payin) was never blessed with children. How could Ellis Famieh Duncan have descended from her is a figment of the imagination of Louis Yamoah.”
This fact, according to the Kyidomhene, was so clearly stated by Ellis Famieh Duncan’s own uncle, Mannah Kofi Nzole, during the investigations commissioned by the Ministry of the Interior to look into the circumstances that led to the installation of Beyeeman Tano Kwaw Benbuin III in March 2019.
That apart, the erroneous report, according to the Kyidomhene, had compelled the family of the late Gyaasehene to cause their lawyer to write to the National House of Chiefs that he was never a party to any suit against the eligibility of the Omanhene, and that, his signature had been forged on many occasions in reports he never knew existed.
Kyidomhene Nana Adu Kwame III repeated in the press statement that since the installation of Beyeeman Tano Kwaw Benbuin III, there had been seven assassination attempts on his life, with the eighth one happening on November 6, 2022, which led to the death of four assailants.
He mentioned those he believed were the architects behind the seven assassination attempts on the life of Beyeeman Tano Kwaw Benbuin. He contended that all allegations leveled against the Omanhene that he was not properly nominated and enstooled were palpable falsehoods.
“I, Nana Adu Kwame III, Chief of Nyankamam and the Kyidomhene of the Aowin Traditional Area, and also a Kingmaker of the Paramount Stool of Aowin, state emphatically that all the invented allegations levelled against Beyeeman Tano Kwaw Benbuin III, the Omanhene of Aowin Traditional Area, are untrue.”
According to him, as far back in 2013, Nana Asuamah Payin II, the grandmother of the Omanhene, Beyeeman Tano Kwaw Benbuin III, the Queenmother of the Aowin Traditional Area, nominated Thomas Antwi Agyei (now the Omanhene of the Aowin Paramountcy).
As customs and traditions demand, the current Omanhene then paid the customary drinks that they (kingmakers) demanded.
At that time, he mentioned the Kingmakers’ head and representative as Nana Ndoli Payin II, the then Chief of Kramokrom, and also the Baamuhene of the Traditional Area, who accepted the customary drinks to signify their acceptance of the Queenmother’s nominee, having vetted and screened him, to be worthy.
“In May 2014, we invited Beyeeman to return from the United Kingdom to be installed as the Omanhene of the Aowin Traditional Area when one Eric Kumi Ntaah obtained an injunction on the enstoolment. The injunction was set aside after five long years before we could install Beyeeman. During the installation, there were only three of us Kingmakers left (Gyaasehene, myself and the Adumhene). The Gyaasehene, who had advanced in age, was bedridden and could not attend the installation.”
After the installation of Beyeeman Tano Kwaw Benbuin III, Kyidomhene Nana Adu Kwame indicated in the press statement that one Mannah Kofi Nzole, who claimed to be the Abusuapanin, sued Beyeeman at the Judicial Committee of the Regional House of Chiefs, Sekondi, and lost the case. He later filed an appeal at the National House of Chiefs, Kumasi. The case is still pending for determination, which they have been waiting for since September 2020.
“I want to state that the Judicial Committee of the Regional House of Chiefs has the same powers as the High Courts of Ghana. Since the Judicial Committee of Western Regional House of Chiefs, Sekondi, has made ruling in favour of Beyeeman Tano Kwaw Benbuin III, and an appeal having been lodged with the National House of Chiefs, all the statements and reports written on the matter is tantamount to contempt of court, and we will take the appropriate steps to ensure this happens in the interest of justice,” he warned.
“I want to say that all the various claims made by Louis Yamoah or Nana Kwame Nkansah II, the Odikro of Jomoro, against Beyeeman Tano Kwaw Benbuin III, are full of lies. I would like to state categorically without any equivocation, that Beyeeman Tano Kwaw Benbuin III was properly nominated and installed per our customs and traditions and, therefore, his enstoolment is legitimate. What he has accomplished in the past four years, notwithstanding all the threats to his life and murderous harassment, make him worthy of his name – Beyeeman.”
