Story: Benjamin Makafui Attipoe, Ave Dakpa
Some fourteen (14) Concerned Chiefs and Stool Representatives, including the Mankrado of the Ave Dakpa Traditional Area in the Akatsi North District of the Volta Region, Torgbui Kofi Kpetor, have, with immediate effect, announced the withdrawal of their support for their Paramount Chief, Torgbui Nyamekor Glakpe V.
News Ghana has intercepted a letter dated Friday, 5th April 2024, addressed to the Regional House of Chiefs at Ho and signed by the Chiefs and Stool Representatives, which called an end to the fifteen (15)-year rule of Torgbui Nyamekor Glakpe V.
According to the Concerned Chiefs, the Ave Dakpa Traditional Area Chieftaincy Structure, including its peculiar customs and traditions differs from many communities. They explained that the Awormefia, Torgbui Atta Kofi VII is the Overlord and the Sole Kingmaker of the Traditional Area, adding that he enstooled all the current eighteen (18) Divisional Chiefs and Queenmothers under oath including the Paramount Chief, Torgbui Nyamekor Glakpe V.
The letter accused Torgbui Nyamekor Glakpe V of alleged attempts to usurp the authority of the Awormefia or the Sole Kingmaker. Although this move was thwarted, he resorted to denigrating Torgbui Atta Kofi VII, his Stool, and all the Chiefs in the Traditional Area.
The Concerned Chiefs and Stool Representatives accused the Paramount Chief of twelve (12) alleged infractions. The first one accused Torgbui Nyamekor Glakpe V and his assignee not only of allegedly denigrating the Awormefia but also of referring to him as a fetish priest and by extension calling all the chiefs proselytes or disciples of a fetish priest and not chiefs.
The letter said before the District Assembly Elections in 2010, the Paramount Chief publicly swore to abdicate his stool if Hon. Patrick Ahiabu was elected as Assembly Member for the area, using his sword of office to reportedly pierce the ground to signify that he had sworn an oath. Following the victory of Mr. Patrick Ahiabu in that election, Torgbui Nyamekor Glakpe V, according to the signatories to the letter, has since not kept his promise, thereby losing respect in the eyes of the public.
The seven (7) paged letter noted that a press release by Torgbui Nyamekor Glakpe V, dated 3rd November 2023 accused Torgbui Atta Kofi VII of supposedly inviting some ‘unscrupulous’ members of the Regional House of Chiefs to install him (Torgbui Atta Kofi VII) as the Paramount Chief of the Traditional Area and also one Mr. Newman Kpogo as the Fianorxorme. They also argued that such an unfortunate description of the Members of the House of Chiefs by Torgbui Nyamekor Glakpe V has brought the name of the Regional House of Chiefs into disrepute.
The Paramount Chief has also been accused of allegedly declining a request to write a covering letter to gazette the Paramount Queenmother, Mama Sashikpe after a ruling to that effect by the Asogli Traditional Council that the said Queenmther was from Torgbui Ahorkpor’s clan. According to the signatories of the letter, this decision allegedly happened on the blind side of the chiefs and the people of Ave Dakpa. ‘Unkonwn to the chiefs and the community, Torgbui Nyamekor Glakpe V has made arrangements to install a Paramount Queenmother. He was advised to stop but he refused to heed advice, including advice from DISEC. And it is that decision he took that has generated into our current situation’, the statement alleged.
The Concerned Chiefs and Stool Representatives said on 5th November 2023, Torgbui Atta Kofi VII called a meeting of all Chiefs, Queenmothers, Stool Fathers, and Linguists amongst others at Aworme (the Palace) not only to brief them on the current situation but also to discuss the way forward. According to them, the said meeting attracted a reaction from Torgbui Nyamekor Glakpe V whose Anyifia Clan supporters allegedly assembled with all manner of weapons to attack the said meeting. ‘But for the intervention of the security personnel, there would have been bloodshed on that day’, the letter alleged.
The Concerned Traditional Rulers also described the Paramount Chief as being autocratic and authoritarian, accusing him of allegedly ignoring all the eighteen (18) Divisional Chiefs of the traditional area and unilaterally imposing the set up of a Town Development Committee on the people with the appointment of his nephew, one Mr. Perry Nyamekor as its Chairman. The Concerned Chiefs said they drew the attention of Torgbui Nyamekor Glakpe V to the anomaly, pointing out to him the laid-down convention of calling a Town Hall Meeting (Dutakpekpe) before a decision of this magnitude is taken. ‘Characteristic of him, he has ignored not only the counsel of the Concerned Chiefs but also decided to impose the Town Management Committee on the good people of Ave Dakpa willy-nilly’, the traditional leaders allegedly intimated.
The letter also accused Torgbui Nyamekor Glakpe V of allegedly unilaterally appointing his nephew, Mr. John Nyamekor as his spokesperson without recourse to the laid down convention and procedure within the traditional area, adding that the Paramount Chief and his nephew are the only two personalities who allegedly handle all official correspondence of the Traditional Council without involving the other chiefs. They argue that the attention of Torgbui Nyamekor Glakpe V has been drawn to what they described as bad precedence, further accusing the Paramount Chief of ignoring the advice.
The Concerned Chiefs and Stool Representatives also accused the Paramount Chief of allegedly contravening a lot of customs and traditions of the chiefs and people of the Ave Dakpa State. They therefore reiterated in the letter that they can no longer work with Torgbui Nyamekor Glakpe V as the Paramount Chief neither would they regard him as the Paramount Chief of the Ave Dakpa Traditional Area.
When contacted, the spokesperson for the Paramount Chief, Mr. John Nyamekor confirmed the receipt of such a letter from the Concerned Chiefs and Stool Representatives.
According to him, Torgbui Atta Kofi VII was the one who dragged the Paramount Chief to the Regional House of Chiefs at Ho over similar unfounded allegations that are being handled by the Regional House.
Mr. Nyamekor noted that even though the Paramount Chief has serious issues with the letter and its entire contents, he would not want to appear to be jumping the gun, adding that he would patiently await the outcome of the adjudication process being handled by the august Regional House of Chiefs.
Apart from the Mankrado of the Ave Dakpa Traditional Area, Torgbui Kofi Kpetor who signed the letter, thirteen (13) other Concerned Chiefs and Stool Representatives appended their signatures to the seven (7) paged document. They were Torgbui Adzah IV, Torgbui Anipah III, Torgbui Kodzi IV, Torgbui Adranyi VI, Torgbui Atsaba III, Torgbui Anyorkpordi VIII and Torgbui Zokpo II.
The others were Torgbui Kponor Gedzu V, Torgbui Ashiabor VII (Awadada) and Torgbui Adzakpa.
The rest are Torgbui Adzodogbe, Torgbui Ahorkpor as well as Torgbui Avu.
The letter was copied to seventeen (17) institutions, organizations, and individuals including the National House of Chiefs in Kumasi and the Asogli Traditional Council at Ho.
Paramount Chiefs of sister Traditional Areas such as Ave Dzalele, Torgbui Kwame Dogli, Ave Dzadzepe, Torgbui Dzidenu Zoglo III, Ave Havi, Torgbui Ahiabor Gamor III, Ave Afiadenyigba, Torbgui Gbordzekpor Fianu III as well as Ave Tagba, Torgbui Adogo Agbalekpor IV were not left out.
The District Chief Executive (DCE) and Member of Parliament (MP) for Akatsi North, Hon. Peter Simon Ofosu and Hon. Peter Nortsu-Kotoe respectively, were also served.
The Akatsi North District Police Commander, the National Security and BNI in the District, Assembly Member (AM) for the Ave Dakpa Electoral Area, Unit Committee Chairman for Ave Dakpa as well as the Ave Dakpa Market Women Association, also had copies of the letter.
