Emerging details suggest that the structure, whose demolition made the headlines yesterday, was not within the Nigerian High Commission as reported.
According to Nii Okwei Kinka Dowuona VI, the Osu Mantse, in a reaction to the story, explained that “the said parcel of land is separate from that which is currently being occupied by the Nigerian High Commission.”
The Osu Stool, the Osu Mantse, explained that “the original building on the parcel of land was demolished and in its place a new structure was being erected.”
The Paramount Chief of the Osu Traditional Area, who is also the President of the Greater Accra Regional House of Chiefs, explained that the piece of land situated at West Ridge in Accra and belonging to the Osu Stool had been trespassed upon, adding that “the said parcel of land and the entire Osu Mantse layout is not state land but is part of the Osu Paramount Stool land and as such, it is only the stool that has the mandate to grant lease, be it expired or otherwise.”
The said parcel of land, the paramount chief stated “is separate from that which is currently being occupied by the Nigerian High Commission.”
The original building on the land was demolished and in its place, a new structure was being erected by a Nigerian businessman.
Osu Stool was informed that the structure was being erected by a Nigerian businessman with the aid of the Nigerian High Commission.
The structure, the stool added, was intended for an entertainment complex to be used as an events centre for commercial purposes, and was not a block of flats as reported in the media.
The Osu Stool stressed that it had a high level of regard for “foreign missions and has therefore on several occasions verbally informed the unidentified trespasser of the ownership status of the land through the security personnel resident on the parcel of land.”
An invitation to the trespasser to come for a discussion on the ownership, the stool explained, yielded no response.
“The intention of the trespasser is to forcibly take over the land under the cover of diplomatic mission from the stool land without redress and without the permission of the traditional authority and its council of elders,” the stool pointed out.
The Osu Stool, the rejoinder went on, “remains the owner of the said land and wishes to notify the general public that all other intended users of the property must first seek the permission of the stool.”
By A.R. Gomda