Revert Apesokubi to original name — Traditional Council

The Akposo-Kubi Traditional Council has called on the government to revert the name Apesokubi to its original name Akposo-Kubi in the Legislative Instrument (LI) that created the Oti Region to enable the traditional area to regain its rightful place at the Oti Regional House of Chiefs.

It said the omission of the original name, Akposo-Kubi, which has been replaced by Apesokubi in the gazette by the Oti Regional House Chiefs, had led to the indigenous people of the traditional area being sidelined.

At a press conference held at the International Press Centre in Accra, the Queen mother of the Akposo-Kubi Traditional Council, Innakika Emieaboe Izealedu II noted that before the creation of the Oti Region, Akposo-Kubi and Apesokubi were interchangeably used to refer to the same traditional area.

However, since the LI recognises only Apesokubi, she said the newly recognised Chief of Apesokubi, George Kwasi Attu-Asiedu, by the Oti Regional House of Chiefs does not represent their traditional area.

She urged the President, Speaker of Parliament and Parliament of Ghana, the Ministry of Justice and Attorney General's Department, the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, the Ministry of Local Government and the National House of Chiefs to look into the issue and take the necessary steps to revert Apesokubi to its original name and give it its rightful place at the Oti Regional House of Chiefs as it earlier had in the erstwhile Volta Region before the creation of the Oti Region.

Allegations

Innakika Izealedu II indicated that allegations and arguments being made by some people that the people of Akposo-Kubi are Togolese are false as the Akposos are Guans who were part of the earliest people to have settled in the area.

She said the Akans in Akposo-Kubi are strangers who settled in Kubi many years ago, hence Chief Attu Asiedu could only have a portion of Akposo-Kubi over which he could be a chief, assuming he qualifies to be one. She described the recognition of Chief Attu Asiedu as the paramount chief of the Akposo-Kubi Traditional Area as an "insult and attempted subjugation".

"Assuming without admitting that Attu Asiedu qualifies to be chief to his cohorts, he can only be a sub-chief within our paramountcy as they are tenants," she said.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             She stated that Chief Attu Asiedu, in December last, created town names and names of sub-chiefs on paper as the said names presented to the National House of Chiefs in December and gazetted last year do not exist.

Unrest

The queen mother stated that the situation was creating tension in the traditional area as the youth of Akposo-Kubi were unhappy with having a foreigner in their land being recognised as a chief over them.

She called for immediate action to make sure that the issue is resolved to prevent escalation of same into a major security concern in the near future.