Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin
The Akyem Abuakwa Traditional Council in the Eastern Region has stated that there is currently no chief at Adoagyiri in the Nsawam Adoagyiri Municipality.
As a result, the council, chaired by the Okyenhene, Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin, has warned one George Twum to stop posing as Adoagyiri’s chief and also the Ankobeahene of Kotoku masquerading with the title ‘Okoanadwo Afutu Dompreh II’.
This comes on the heels of the current conflict at Nsawam-Adoagyiri over a claim of ownership of the area by some chiefs of Akyem Kotoku, who are planning the installation of a new chief in the area.
Already, the Ghana Police Service has obtained a restraining order to prevent some of Adoagyiri’s kingmakers and the Akyem Abuakwa Traditional Council from installing a new chief in the town.
Similarly, the police obtained another restraining order from the Nsawam High Court, which barred the embattled Adoagyirihene from holding a durbar outside his palace or residence in honour of this year’s Odwira Festival.
The township of Adoagyiri, local businesses, and the people who live there continue to be threatened by the situation, living in fear of potential communal conflicts.
In a letter dated February 23, 2023, three individuals—Obrempong Gyamfi Saforo, Obrempong Sintim Poku, and Nana Kwesi Kyeretwie—claiming to speak for the Kotoku State demanded that Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin stop interfering with the chieftaincy matters in Adoagyiri.
However, the State Secretary of the Akyem Abuakwa Traditional Council, D.M. Ofori-Atta, said at a press conference on Monday that Adoagyiri has historically been a part of Akyem Abuakwa and is directly under the Apapam Stool, which is a crucial component of the Amantuomiensa Group of the Akyem Abuakwa State. He claimed that records showed all Adoagyiri chiefs in succeeding generations had served on the Akyem Abuakwa State Council, and added that the records also contained proof of land transactions.
He claimed that Barima Adu Kokor II, who died in 2007, served the Ofori Panin Stool as one of the most devoted and long-reigning chiefs of Akyem Abuakwa. He was appointed Chief of Adoagyiri in 1953, and he added that Kotoku citizens, like members of other ethnic communities, are settlers who have been given the usufructuary right but no allodia right to any land.
“Further to the above, it should be clearly understood that land by Akan Tradition is the fundamental condition for the exercise of a customary right, the two being intricately linked and inseparable; The Okyenhene being the allodia owner of the land in Adoagyiri exercises exclusive customary authority,” he said.
He further explained that there are no records proving that Adoagyiri is or has ever been a part of the Akyem Kotoku Traditional Area.
He added that Adoagyiri is not contiguous with any of the lands of the Kotoku State—more than five towns of Akyem Abuakwa separate Adoagyiri from Akyem Kotoku lands.
From Daniel Bampoe, Abuakwa