Court quashes installation of Nene Anobaah Sasraku II

The Koforidua High Court has declared as null and void the recent installation of Romeo Tetteh Kofi as the Konor (Paramount Chief) of the Yilo Krobo Traditional Area with the stool name Nene Anobaah Sasraku II.

The court arrived at the decision after it quashed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that was arrived at under a purported Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) that sought to establish a third gate for the Yilo Krobo paramountcy.

The Ologo and Akrobettoe gates of the Yilo Krobo paramountcy instituted an action for certiorari at the court after the Nuer family had installed Romeo Tetteh Kofi as the paramount chief of the area.

In its ruling, the court, presided over by Mr Justice Richard M. Kwogyapah, declared that there were only two gates to the Yilo Krobo paramountcy, namely the Ologo and the Akrobettoe, and added categorically that there was no third gate known as the Nuer gate.

There was spontaneous joy all over the Yilo Krobo Traditional area, especially at Somanya when news on the court’s decision went round.

Somanya was agog with merrymaking on the streets as the citizenry, both the youth and old, came out clad in calico, signifying victory not only for the two gates but for the whole traditional area.

The police, led by the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Mr Albert Deletsa, were there in their numbers to maintain law and order.

When the Daily Graphic spoke to the Secretary to the Traditional Council, Mr G.G.B. Adjrackor, when the situation became calm, he said the ruling was the high expectation of the concerned citizens of the area, adding, “the truth has come out and nobody can challenge it.”

The Deputy Head of the Ologo family, Mr Divine Tetteh Ologo, advised the people of Yilo Krobo to remain calm for the law to take its course.

He assured the people that at the appropriate time, the two gates would come out with the right nominee who would be installed to replace the late Konor.

The Somanya District Commander of the Ghana Police Service, DSP Albert Deletsa, told the Daily Graphic that the police were on the ground monitoring the situation, especially at the palace, and there was no cause for alarm.

It would be recalled that on Thursday, February 19, 2015, the Daily Graphic published a story in which the elders of Yilo Krobo petitioned President John Mahama over the creation of a third gate in the traditional area.

In the petition headed “Petition Against the Third Paramount Gate” and signed by the Secretary to the Yilo Krobo Traditional Council, the elders stated among others that a minority group with no right of inheritance insofar as the Yilo Krobo Paramount stool was concerned, was threatening the peace in the traditional area.

It said a group, led by one Opey Padi Keteku of Prampram, who was said to trace his family lineage to the Akrobettoe family of Yilo Krobo, was planning to break into the palace and install a chief on Thursday, February 19, 2015.

Families

The petition said since the creation of the Yilo State many years ago, there had been only two family gates to the stool, Ologo and Akrobettoe – located at Sra, a suburb of Somanya.

It said the Yilo Krobo Paramount Stool, like all paramountcies in the Ga-Dangme state, was acceded to only through the patrilineal line of descent.

It further explained that any time an occupant from either the Ologo or Akrobettoe lineage died, the group from Osudoku who were related to the Yilo State by matrilineal lineage, tried to forcibly enstool one of their own to accede to the Paramount Stool.

Background

Following the death of Nene Narh Dautey Ologo IV in 2009, the Nuer family was challenged by the Akrobettoe and Ologo gates that it could not accede to the stool.

The case was filed with the Judicial Committee of the Eastern Regional House of Chiefs, chaired by its President, Osagyefo Amoatia Ofori Panin, who is also the Okyenhene.

The committee struck out the case following a memorandum of understanding (MOU) adopted by three gates which among other issues, outlined the succession plan to the Yilo Krobo Paramountcy in order of the Nuer, Akrobettoe and Ologo clans.

Installation

In spite of the Koforidua High Court order restraining the Nuer Family from nominating and installing Romeo Tetteh Kofi as the Konor of the Yilo Krobo Traditional Area, the family went ahead and installed him as the new paramount chief. His coronation could, however, not come off due to the court order.