Offinso: I will not allow vacant stool to be sold to illegitimate candidate - Asantehene

I am giving the assurance that I will not allow the Offinso Stool to be sold to anyone who is not the legitimate candidate to occupy the vacant stool, the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II has said.

Speaking at an Asanteman Council meeting at the Manhyia Palace in Kumasi on Thursday, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II said he has reliable information that the elders in Offinso were in connivance and working to get an illegitimate person to occupy the vacant stool.

He said he was aware the Offinso Queen mother was working together with the elders and that is why she was delaying the process and that, he as the Asantehene, was aware of every development in the process to get a candidate to fill the vacant stool. 

He said he was deliberately not currently talking about the issues because the Queen mother is called Nyarko same as his [Asantehene's] mother [the late Asantehemaa] and was also aware of how his mother liked her when she was alive.

He said her handling of the Offinso chieftaincy issues had exposed her and there was no way he was going to allow for the stool to be sold.

The Asantehene said he was aware of all the people who went and collected money from a candidate at the last Akwasidae festival.

Otumfuo Osei Tutu II reiterated his readiness to thwart any attempt by the Queen mother of Offinso, Nana Ama Serwaa Nyarko to hand the vacant Offinso Stool to anyone for monetary benefits.

He said he was very much aware of all the monies received by everyone in relation to a particular candidate who has expressed interest in the stool and does not necessarily fall in the blood line.

He said it was true Offinso needs to install a new chief, and that it was the Queen mother who had seized the stool for whatever reason but whatever she was seeking, she will not get it.

With members of the Offinso Traditional Council standing in front of him at the Asanteman Council meeting on Thursday, October 19, 2023, Otumfuo said he was aware of all the developments in the Offinso matter and that he was only tolerating the Queen mother because of her name Ama Serwaa Nyarko and the relationship she shared with the late Asantehemaa - Nana Serwaa Nyarko. 

Earlier in October, the Asantehene strongly cautioned the Offinso Queen mother over her conduct and attempt to impose a candidate on the Offinso Stool.

The Asantehene said he will never countenance any actions on the part of the queen and the elders that will undermine the traditions of Asanteman when it comes to the selection and election of chiefs.

He said no one can arrogate powers that do not exist to themselves. None of the elders have the right to sell land when there is no Offinsohene, especially as it was the Offinsohene who must sign off the sale.

He said there was currently no such power in Offinso and that the elders are to take charge until a new chief was installed and then account for their stewardship,

The demise of Nana Wiafe Akenten III, the late Paramount Chief of Offinso has left a vacuum which has led to litigation over who becomes his successor.

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