Police and the Military are currently patrolling Enchi and surrounding towns and villages in the Aowin Municipality of the Western Region, following a reported gun attack on the palace of the paramount chief, Beyeeman Tano Kwaw Benbu II, around 7am yesterday.
Though the alleged gunattack carried out by 20 strong men was repelled by the locals, four of the ‘rebels’ died and their bodies were deposited at the local mortuary.
The motive for the attack is not clear, but some of the residents told The Chronicle that it might have something to with the chieftaincy dispute in the town.
It would be recalled that the palace of the Omanhene of Enchi sent a petition to the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to intervene to avert a possible attack on the palace by an opposing faction, following several assassination attempts on the life of the Omanhene of the area.
The palace, in their petition, said following the ascending of the throne by Beyeeman Tano, he has not had peace after several failed assassination attempts on his life.
The Chronicle cannot confirm or deny whether the IGP received the petition or not, but just as the situation appears to be normalising, alleged gunmen struck the palace.
Information gathered by The Chronicle and confirmed by one of the chiefs of the palace, Nana Kojo Ntow, said the gun men attacked the palace as early as 7am on Sunday, to allegedly assassinate the Omanhene after several failed attempts to do so.
According to Nana Kojo Ntow, when the alleged thugs attacked the place, the town folks also mobilised to defend it, and this resulted in the death of the four alleged attackers.
He gave the names of some of those who had fallen as Benard Mozay, Skipper and Kwesi Ayenah.
The Chronicle could not independently confirm the claim by the chief, especially the names that he mentioned.
Nana Kojo Ntow, nevertheless insisted that the attack on the palace was captured by the CCTV camera, which would be made available to the relevant agencies. He also confirmed that both police and soldiers are currently patrolling the town.
Meanwhile, the police have issued a statement confirming the attack. The following is the full statement;
Police Restore Calm at Enchi and begin investigation into violent chieftaincy dispute.
The Police have restored calm at Enchi in the Western North Region after a violent chieftaincy dispute resulted in the death of four people and injury to one other person.
Security has since been beefed up in the palace, Enchi township and surrounding communities.
Investigation is ongoing and crime scene experts and reinforcement teams have been dispatched from the national headquarters in Accra and surrounding Police Regions to support the Western North Regional Police Command.
We wish to urge the public, in this case our revered chieftaincy institution, which is the embodiment of our customs, traditions and values to use peaceful and due judicial process in resolving differences, in order to avoid such needless deaths. We will surely get the perpetrators of this violent attack arrested and made to face justice.
