The Kwa Dadzie gate and Okyere gate, sub-sections of the royal gate of the Twidan family of NyanfekuEkroful (Abakrampa), Central Region, have filed for an injunction application at the Cape Coast High Court to stop the final funeral rites of the late chief of NyanfekuEkroful, NyanfekuNyeiku II, slated for October and November 2024.
The plaintiffs are Ebusuapanyin Kojo Afful and Ebusuapanyin Kwesi Embil, both of whom are heads of the Kwa Dadzie gate and Okyere gate of the Royal Twidan family of NyanfekuEkroful respectively.
The third plaintiff is Augustine Osei, a principal member of the Okyere gate and the brother of the late chief.
The first defendant is Emmanuel Kuuku Afrankoh, a member of Owoodu gate. The second defendant is Ebusuapanyin Kofi Appiah, who is the head of the Kodze gate and head of the larger Twidan family.
The third defendant is Omanpanyin Gabriel Abakah, who is the Omanpanyin of the NyanfekuEkroful.
The Royal Kwa Dadzie gate and Okyere gate, through their counsel, Eunice Frimpong Esq, filed for an interlocutory injunction in September, which seeks to stop the three other gates from organising the funeral of the late NyanfekuNyeiku II.
In the motion filed by plaintiffs sighted by The Chronicle, they prayed for the declaration that Nana NyanfekuNyieku II was a true royal of the Okyere gate and the immediate Pramado (Okyere and Kwa Dadzie) gate.
Additionally, the plaintiffs asked for an order restraining defendants from making and/or executing any decision/arrangements or announcement whatsoever, for the performance of the final funeral rites of Nana NyanfekuNyieku II, without the consent, approval and concurrence of the plaintiffs, who are his direct family members.
They prayed the court for a perpetual injunction restraining the defendants, their agents, assigns, privies, servants, workmen, and anyone claiming through them/connected to them from organising/performing the final funeral rites of Nana NyanfekuNyieku II, a.k.a. Prof. Raymond Nonatu Osei.
Counsel Eunice explained to the court that Kwa Dadzie and Okyere gates are a subsection of the Royal gate (jointly known as Pramado) of the Twidan family of NyanfekuEkroful, with the other gates being the Kodze gate, Owoodu gate and Okotopre gate, also forming part of the larger Twidan clan, but not royals who can mount the NyanfekuEkroful stool.
The plaintiffs said that their Kwa Dadzie gate and Okyere gate both trace their ancestry to Nana Kwame Nyanfeku I, who founded NyanfekuEkroful and was also the first occupant of the Kwame Nyanfeku stool of Nyanfeku Ekroful, adding that members of the two gates are thus the original members and true royals of the NyanfekuEkrofulTwidan family.
Eunice Frimpong argued that although all five gates make up the Twidan Family, it is only the Kwa Dadzie gate who are the rightful heirs to the NyanfekuEkroful stool, and that it is only members from the said gate that can be enstooled as chiefs of NyanfekuEkroful.
The counsel for the plaintiffs has served the District Police Commander of the Ghana Police Service, Abura Dunkwaw, a notice of pendency of an injunction.
The late Nana NyanfekuNyeiku, was known in private life as Prof. Raymond Osei, was a Political Science, Historian and Head of the Psychology and Social Science Department of the University of Cape Coast before his demise.
