Western Togoland secessionist suspect dies in police custody

Enoch Darfah Frimpong Oct - 29 - 2020 , 19:32 3 minutes read

One of the suspects in the Western Togoland secessionist case has reportedly died whilst in police custody.

Counsel for the suspects, Mr Theophilus Donkor has said.

The name of the deceased is yet to be put out.

"As far as I know, I can confirm to you that one of those persons is no more with us. We are yet to receive official complaint from the police, because they [police] have not had the courtesy to even inform the family that the people we [police] came to arrest, this is what has happened."

"Because as far as we know in Ghana, which I know they [police] know, that the dead body belongs to the family so the family should have been consulted by this time, but they have decided, or they are deliberately deciding not to communicate that information to the family," Mr Theophilus Donkor said in a radio interview with Accra based Citi FM, Thursday evening [October 29, 2020] monitored by Graphic Online.

Arrest

Some members of the group agitating for the restoration of the Western Togoland as an independent state from Ghana were on Friday September 25, 2020 arrested after they blocked some major roads in the Volta Region on that Friday morning and seized a police vehicle and weapons.

They were transported to Accra to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) headquarters of the Ghana Police.

Some of the exhibits picked up from them were flags which had inscriptions of the separatist group, Homeland Study Group Foundation (HSGF) on them.

Background

The HSGF, a group championing the secession of parts of Ghana along the border with Togo, declared independence for the territory they call 'Western Togoland' on November 16, 2019.

This was after after they had started underground agitations in various areas in the Volta Region soliciting for support for their course with the argument that they are no longer part of Ghana.

The leader of Western Togoland HSGF, Charles Kormi Kudzodzi, announced the separation of Western Togoland from Ghana after a meeting in the Volta Regional capital, Ho.

After that announcement, some members of the group were arrested after they were alleged to have engaged in activities to champion the cause of the group.

On December 30, 2019, the Northern Regional Police arrested 18 people suspected to be part of the separatist group.

The arrest followed intelligence that some members of the alleged separatist group from Kpassa were holding a meeting in a primary school in Bimbila, with the aim of recruiting some youth to assist in their secessionist activities.

A joint military and police team was then deployed to the scene to arrest them.

On December 1, last year, the police in the Upper East Region also arrested 10 people who were connected to the secessionist group.

The suspects were rounded up in an operation in Tumu in the Sissala East District.

Writer's email: enoch.frimpong@graphic.com.gh

Follow @enochfrimpong Follow @Graphicgh