President Akufo-Addo and otumfuo Osei Tutu
In a bid to stop carving the Oti Region out of the Volta Region, two persons have gone to the extent of sending Ghana’s President, the Asantehene and five others to a shrine for a spell to be cast on them.
The rest are the Chairman of the Commission of Inquiry, Justice Brobbey; Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Jean Mensah; Minister of Regional Reorganization, Dan Kweku Botwe; Volta Regional Minister, Dr. Archibald Yao Letsa and Dr. Obed Asamoah, a strong advocate of the creation of the Oti Region.
The two who have been identified as Ebenezer Atsu, 32 and Shepherd Acolatse, 55, are alleged to have sent these seven prominent people to a shrine at Weta in the Ketu North District of the Volta Region for a spell to be cast on them so that they would rescind their decision on the creation of the Oti Region out of the Volta Region.
Details
The Volta Regional Police Commander, DCOP Francis Doku, who made the revelation, noted that the fetish priest, one Festus Kwashie Babanawo, refused to go ahead with the spell, and he secretly alerted police officers at the District Police Headquarters at Dzodze, who came to arrest them.
He narrated that at about midday of last Wednesday, December 5, 2018, the two who hail from Ashaiman in the Greater Accra Region visited Festus’ shrine at Weta. The two persons handed over a piece of paper to Festus with the names of the seven prominent persons when they got to the shrine.
On seeing the names and listening to the mission of the suspects, he alerted the police who moved in to round them up.
When they were arrested, they indicated that the list was given to them by one John of Ashaiman who directed them to the fetish priest for assistance.
Background
The processes leading to the creation of six new regions in the country have been smooth until recently when a few chiefs in the southern part of the Volta Region raised concerns over why the entire region would not be allowed to vote in the referendum to decide whether Oti Region should be created or not.
The opposition led two people to go to the Supreme Court to seek interpretation of Article 5(4) of the 1992 Constitution ostensibly to challenge the creation of the Oti Region. However, the Supreme Court in a unanimous decision dismissed the suit and okayed the processes that would lead to the creation of the region.
Although it is unclear what charges will be preferred against the suspects, particularly when spiritual matters have no basis in law, the Regional Commander, DCOP Francis Doku, pointed out that further investigations would be done to ensure no physical threat or attack is meted out to the targets.
Security Threat and Warning
He hinted that such spiritual attacks are not new to the police as some individuals had suffered from it as well as physical threats and attacks.
He therefore stressed that the personalities whose names were mentioned for the spell as well as other key persons have been alerted to beef up their security from now till the end of the creation of the region.
DCOP Francis Doku gave an assurance that the Regional Police Command had put in place adequate measures to ensure an incident-free voting before, during and after the December 27, 2018 referendum of which the citizens in the Oti enclave have promised a 100 percent YES votes in favour of the creation.
From Fred Duodu, Ho (k.duodu@yahoo.com)