Edward Nana Aidoo
The Yogo Family of Cape Coast has sued two individuals and a funeral home for attempting to organise a funeral, as well as bury the late football administrator of Cape Coast-based Mysterious Abusua Dwarfs FC, Edward Nana Aidoo without their knowledge.
In a suit filed at an Accra High Court, Opanyin Onyinkyi Afari, the head of the Yogo Family, averred that the late Edward Nana Aidoo belongs to the matrilineal family, hence his half-brother, John Ekwan Kweku Pratt, one of the defendants, has no legal or customary right to claim the body.
The Abusua Dwarfs bankroller died in New Jersey, USA in June, this year and his body has since been brought back to Ghana. He left behind four daughters.
The other defendant, Maame Adjoa Aidoo, according to the suit, is claiming to be the wife of the deceased when she is not known to the family in that regard.
Enterprise Funeral Home, popularly known as Transitions, located at Haatso in Accra, is also attached to the suit because the plaintiff claims it has unlawfully connived with the other two defendants to keep the mortal remains of the deceased in their mortuary without the consent of the Yogo Ebusua Family or its head.
The plaintiff is therefore praying the court to place an interlocutory injunction on the defendants to restrain them from further handling the body of the deceased pending the determination of the suit.
The plaintiff also wants a perpetual injunction restraining the defendants whether by themselves or their assigns agents, servants or whomsoever from in anyway interfering with the rights of the Yogo Ebusua.
In his statement of claim, the head of the Yogo Family, Opanyin Onyinkyi Afari averred that the deceased, throughout his lifetime, was a member of the Yogo Ebusua of Ejumako Takyiman and Enyam Ekumase Family in the Central Region.
The plaintiff stated that John Ekwan Kweku Pratt and the deceased are brothers from the same father but different mothers hence the late Edward Nana Aidoo is not a member of the matrilineal family of the defendant.
He stated that despite John Ekwan Kweku Pratt not being a member of the matrilineal family of the deceased, he posed as the head of family of the deceased.
“In a desperate attempt to cause confusion in the funeral celebration of the deceased, Edward Nana Aidoo, the first defendant has coined a false family name ‘the Aidoo Family’ and claims that the said nonexistent family is the family to which the deceased Edward Nana Aidoo belonged,” the suit stated.
The suit further stated that Maame Adjoa Aidoo in “false status as the lawful and or legally married spouse of Edward Nana Aidoo, has arrogated unto herself together with John Ekwan Kweku Pratt, the conductor of the funeral of Edward Nana Aidoo which is the sole preserve of the Yogo Family.
It added that the funeral home has also unlawfully connived with the other two defendants to keep the body of the deceased in its mortuary without the consent of the Yogo Family or its head.
It said the Yogo Family has tried without success to have the corpse removed from the mortuary, but the funeral home, acting jointly and severally with the other two defendants, prevented the family from doing so, and the mortuary has resolved not to deal with the family except the other two defendants.
The acts, the plaintiff said, is against their right to property as enshrined in the 1992 Constitution.
“The plaintiff further contends that the conduct of the defendants is an affront to custom of the deceased’s Yogo Ebusua’s right to decide on the custody, preparation for the burial and the celebration of the deceased’s funeral.”
The Yogo Family is therefore seeking a perpetual injunction restraining the defendants whether by themselves or their assigns agents, servants or whomsoever from in anyway interfering with the rights of the Yogo Ebusua.
It is also seeking a declaration that the family, headed by Opanyin Onyinkyi Afari, is entitled by law to determine any further matter concerning the custody, preparation for burial, burial and funeral of the late Edward Nana Aidoo.
“Declaration that Maame Adjoa Aidoo is never in the lifetime of the deceased married to him and therefore has no right at custom concerning the funeral celebration of the deceased Edward Nana Aidoo.”
It also wants a declaration that the defendants, in their false status, cannot jointly and severally take any decision whatsoever before, during and after the death of the deceased.
By Gibril Abdul Razak