Statement by Lineage Heads on Awaomefia Dispute.

PRESS STATEMENT OF FUIGA AGBEVE AND ADIKA DRAFOR LINEAGES OF THE ROYAL FAMILY OF THE ADZORVIA CLAN OF ANLO ON THE PURPORTED AND ILLEGAL OUTDOORING OF PATRICK AGBOBA AS THE 16TH AWOAMEFIA OF ANLO ON THE 21ST FEBRUARY 2011.
Date: 28th March, 2011

On Monday, February 21st, 2011, the people of Anlo and Ghanaians in general woke up to news that the people of Anlo were finally outdooring an Awoamefia, albeit under a heavily armed Police siege, thereby ending a 13-year old chieftaincy dispute.
The whole world was made to believe that all was well and that the three lineages, namely the Fuiga Agbeve, Dei Azimaxada and Adika Drafor lineages of the Adzorvia Royal Clan had agreed and settled on one Mr. Patrick Agboba, a 78 year old retired Commissioner of Police and a member of the NDC security committee, as the new Awoamefia for the people of Anlo, with the exception of some miscreants associated with one individual known as Francis Nyonyo Agboada. This, however, is far from the truth. As at today, the Fuiga Agbeve and the Adika Drafor lineages of the Royal family and well meaning members of the Dei Azimaxada lineages are vehemently opposed to the purported out-dooring of Mr. Patrick Agboba as the Awoamefia; an act which is an illegality in view of the pending cases in the courts against his installation. This statement is to explain why we are CATEGORICALLY opposed to this attempt at the imposition of an impostor by unprincipled and powerful elements in the NDC party and government on us and why we are taking steps to abort the usurpation of the Awoamezi. It is also to clear the fog surrounding the long and unprecedented chieftaincy dispute in Anlo.
The purported out-dooring of Patrick Agboba as the 16th Awoamefia is simply the coup de grace of an illegal and uncustomary plot hatched and started as far back as 1999 by the Anlo cliqué in the Jerry Rawlings’ NDC government and carried out through bribery, deception, lies, subterfuge and naked abuse of state authority and power. Therefore, to the majority of the members of the Royal Adzorvia Clan, made up of the youths and elders of the Fuiga Agbeve and Adika Drafor lineages, as well as discerning members of the Dei Azimaxada lineage, Patrick Agboba is an UNQUALIFIED imposition of the NDC government on the Royal family and he CANNOT be accepted as the Awoamefia.
For the skeptics who would disbelieve all this we would refer them to what happened during the nomination of the present Asantehene. It is public knowledge that then President Jerry Rawlings and his NDC government, as if they were possessed, attempted to cajole the Queen Mother and the Kingmakers to nominate and install Akwasi Agyemang, then a member of the NDC. This was in Kumasi, in the Ashanti Region, the bedrock and heartbeat of opposition to Jerry Rawlings and the NDC. So what would Jerry Rawlings and the NDC not do at Anloga, in the Volta Region, their backyard and the so-called World Bank of the NDC? The truth of the matter is that the nocturnal emissaries of the NDC gurus to Kumasi carried out a similar visit to the Adzorvia Royal household and the chiefs of Anlo.
Fortunately and as should be expected from the Asante royals, the Jerry Rawlings NDC nocturnal emissaries did not find any surrogates in the Royal family and the kingmakers. Sadly, in the case of Anlo, they did find more than enough surrogates without conscience in the Royal family and unprincipled Chiefs to wreck havoc and destruction in our customs and traditions. This is the cause of the long and intractable chieftaincy dispute. This eventually culminated in the shedding of the blood of innocent people of Anlo on the 1st November 2007 when the NPP government also got involved with the attempt to impose another impostor in the person of Nyonyo Agboada.

Ex-President Jerry Rawlings and his Anlo NDC henchmen surfaced in the matter of the installation of the Awoamefia as far back as the year 1999 when the late Torgbui Nyaxo Tamakloe IV tried to elicit support for Patrick Agboba within the Adika Drafor lineage. He was emphatic that the Anlo cliqué in the NDC came to see him to put in a word for Agboba, allegedly on behalf of Jerry Rawlings and a promise by Jerry Rawlings to put up a palace for us when Patrick Agboba is installed as the Awoamefia. When this was rejected for obvious reasons known to us, Torgbui Tamakloe said he had already collected the money they brought him. He then got one Nukuledzi Sorkpor, a descendant of Egli and therefore not entitled to participate in the election process, to nominate Patrick Agboba. That is how we came by the first family three of Mr. Patrick Agboba that he claimed descent from Adika Drafor, to our chagrin.
The NDC cliqué also paid their nocturnal and treacherous visit to the Dei Azimaxada lineage and, unfortunately, they were unable to resist the diabolical forces of the NDC gurus and they decided to sell our birth right for a pittance. They therefore proceeded to nominate Patrick Agboba. It was then that Mr. Patrick Agboba's second family tree emerged as a descendant of Dei Azimaxada.
The hurdle imposed by the contradictory claims of descent from two brothers has never been cleared. Judging by his contemporaries in the family trees presented, Patrick Agboba should have been dead and gone about hundred or so more years ago. Besides, it was a common knowledge in the Adzorvia Royal household that Patrick Agboba’s alleged great grandfather Torgbui Atiasa had no surviving male son, a fact attested to by offspring’s of his two surviving female twin daughters.
In spite of this daunting hurdle, the NDC sponsors of Agboba and their surrogates in the family would not give up, even when given the chance to elect someone else. By Anlo customs, the burden of eligibility of a candidate falls on he who nominates; an insurmountable burden that they have not been able discharge to date in order to justify the acceptance of Agboba.
The purported proclamation of election of Patrick Agboba was made at a hurriedly organized meeting by Prof. Kofi Awoonor, Gen. Ben Akafia, and Francis Segbedzi, and others contrary to Anlo custom, since these individuals are not Anlo kingmakers. Feverish preparations were then made to enstool and confine him.
This prompted the Fuiga Agbeve lineage to call for mediation by the Amlade and Loafe (Twin) Clans who are the maternal uncles of the Adzorvia Royal family and who by Anlo custom and tradition have the duty and the right to mediate, and the responsibility together with the Awadada to install the Awoamefia.
The Committee included Dr Torgbui Lagbo Kofa, Head of the Amlade Clan, as its Chairman and Mr. Christian Ahiabor, an elder of the Loafe Clan, who stood in for Torgbui Addo (acting Head of the Loafe Clan) who excused himself on account of having been compromised by accepting the gifts of the nocturnal emissaries of the plotters. Also co-opted as members of the Mediation Committee (to assist the Committee with their special knowledge and expertise) were the respected Anlo elder and prominent lawyer Nobert Kudzawu from the Bate Clan, and Prof. K. Nukunya, a prominent Anlo elder, a sociologist and authority on Anlo customs and traditions.
The Mediation Committee noted that the Adika Drafor lineage had produced Awoamefia four times compared to one each on the part of the other lineages. Consequently, as a compromise, it was decided that either Fuiga Agbeve’s lineage or Dei Azimaxada lineage should offer a candidate for installation.
The Mediation Committee further ruled that as per the custom and traditional practices of the Anlos, the senior, in this case Fuiga Agbeve’s lineage was to have the right to offer a candidate before the junior, Dei Azimaxada; this, the Dei Azimaxada lineage rejected and refused to sit down and negotiate with the rest of the family because of the support they had from the NDC gurus in Anlo.
With the support of their sponsors in the NDC government, the Dei Azimaxada lineage proceeded to make preparations to start the enstoolment and confinement process of Mr. Patrick Agboba contrary to Anlo customs and tradition.
The Fuiga Agbeve and the Adika Drafor lineages who accepted the Mediation Committee’s ruling proceeded to file a Petition in the Judicial Committee of the Volta Regional House of Chiefs to stop the installation process of Patrick Agboba as unlawful and to assert the right of the Fuiga Agbeve lineage to nominate a candidate. The writ was filed on 15th August 2000. Additional writs were later filed with the sole objective of challenging the eligibility of Patrick Agboba, and a declaration of his purported nomination, election and installation as unlawful and contrary to Anlo customs and traditions.
On the mid-night of 17th August 2000, with the protection of heavily armed policemen and commandos Patrick Agboba was “enstooled” and “confined” contrary to Anlo customs and traditions. Three days later, again under a heavily guarded police protection Mr. Patrick Agboba was whisked out of the supposed confinement at Anloga to the residence of Mr. Dan Abodakpi at Atiavi to continue his purported confinement. Again, that was contrary to Anlo tradition as no Awoamefia was ever confined at anywhere other than Anloga.
It is noteworthy that an out of court settlement Mediation Committee established by the Awadada, Torgbui Agbesi Awusu 11, in the year 2002, made a finding of fact that what took place on that fateful day of 17th August 2000 was contrary to Anlo customs, as the rites and rituals were improper and those who performed the rituals do not have the right to do so. In addition, the Committee ruled that the purported nomination and the election of Patrick Agboba at the meeting organised by Prof. Kofi Awoonor was wrongful. Curiously and strangely the Committee recommended that we should oblige for the proper rites and rituals to be performed as demanded by custom; a decision which the Fuiga Agbeve ands Adika Drafor lineages rightly rejected, since the issue of eligibility was not cleared. The matter went back to the Judicial Committee of the Volta Regional House of Chiefs, where it is still pending to date.
To date the cases are still pending in the courts, and the proper rites and rituals have not been performed. It is for this reason that in our earlier press release to the media we categorically stated that the out-dooring of Mr. Patrick Agboba as the 16th Awoamefia on the 21st February 2011 was not only unlawful in Anlo customs, but is illegal and in flagrant disrespect to the courts of our country. All law abiding citizens and non-citizens of Ghana should therefore not recognise this illegal action which we intend to fight in the Courts.
Arrogance, naked abuse of state power and disrespect to the Courts have been the character of the NDC sponsors of Mr. Patrick Agboba and their surrogates. It is worthy to note that we initiated committal proceedings for contempt against them on two occasions in 2001 and 2003. The first action was discontinued on pleas by their solicitor to enable the parties to concentrate on the substantive Petition. In the second instance, we got Mr. Patrick Agboba and the surrogates convicted for contempt, fined in lieu of jail, and bonded to be of good behaviour by the Ho High court. The decision of the High Court was later confirmed by the Court of Appeal.
It was the NDC’s lost of power in 2000 and the legal set-backs suffered, in addition to the Francis Nyonyo Agboada factor, which held in abeyance their arrogance and abuse of state power and determination to subvert the traditions and customs of Anlo to impose Mr. Patrick Agboba on the good people of Anlo. It is not surprising that, with the NDC now back in power, they have chosen to continue with their lawlessness and arrogance.
We need at this juncture to register our disapproval of the unprincipled manner the Daily Graphic continue to allow itself to be used as a propaganda tool of this parochial interest in the NDC party through its reports, and especially its editorial of 21st February 2011. Thanks to the Daily Graphic, the picture had been created that the three lineages, and in particular the Fuiga Agbeve and the Adika Drafor, had agreed to out-door Mr. Patrick Agboba, except some miscreants linked to Mr. Francis Nyonyo Agboada who were bent on ensuring that the good people of Anlo do not get an Awoamefia, so as to continue to stall the progress and development of Anlo.
We would want the Daily Graphic and the people of Ghana to note that we are not miscreants and we are not making ‘ugly noises’ as the Daily Graphic would want Ghanaians to believe. Further, we want to put on record and in the public domain the following facts.
1. The only agreement reached by the three lineages was the signing of a memorandum to submit the matter of installation and out-dooring of Mr. Patrick Agboba to arbitration. The signing was done on the 17th February 2011, and the arbitration was to commence sitting on the 23rd February 2011. Later events showed that the whole exercise was a ruse and a deception to keep the Fuiga Agbeve and Adika Drafor lineages quiet.
2. The Fuiga Agbeve and Adika Drafor lineages were the ones who took Francis Nyonyo Agboada to court, and it was by reason of those pending suits in the Judicial Committee of the Volta Regional House of Chiefs that his attempt to be gazetted after his abortive installation on 1st November 2007 was stalled to date. We are therefore not in anyway linked to Francis Nyonyo Agboada, or whatever he calls himself.
3. That, but for the maturity and commitment of the elders of the two lineages to the rule of law, what would have happened on the 21st February 2011 at the supposed out-dooring would have been ten times worse than 1st November 2007. Sleepless nights and hours were spent by us talking and convincing the folks at Anloga and beyond that bloodshed is not the way forward.
The question that the Daily Graphic in particular and the Ghanaian media in general should be asking the NDC government of President Mills is why over two years into their administration, they are unable to set up an independent committee to investigate the events of 1st November 2007, which saw the loss of lives of five Ghanaians including a police officer. There are many who are still carrying the scars and some still have the bullets in their body. Or is it that in the minds of the Editorial Board of the Daily Graphic the people who got killed, brutalised and maimed do not matter, now that the main protagonists whose criminal conducts instigated the violence of 1st November 2007 are now at peace, as the picture on the front page of the Daily Graphic of 22nd February 2011 would want Ghanaians to believe? If that is the case then GOD SAVE GHANA from this kind of journalism which surely would destroy our dear nation.
As said by Voltaire, ‘It is DANGEROUS to be right when the Government is wrong’, and we dare say, especially a government that would harbour in its midst those who would not hesitate to criminally shed the blood of the innocent in pursuit of their lawless agenda. We shall however be emboldened and encouraged by the fact that, ultimately the truth shall prevail over falsehood and good shall triumph over evil.
However, the path of violence we would never take. That was a decision we made as a family 13 years ago by resorting to the courts to seek redress. We shall therefore not be held responsible for any breach of the peace resulting from further illegal actions in Anlo. In pursuit of that commitment and the promise we made to the youths and people of Anlo to avert needless violence on 21st February 2011, we have decided on the following course of action:

1. For showing flagrant disrespect to the courts, we have instructed our lawyers to commence committal proceedings for contempt and imprisonment of the main actors of the illegality; accordingly the committal application was filled on 18th March 2011 in the High Court, Fast Track Division to commit the following persons:

1. Prof. Kofi Awoonor
2. Mr Patrick Agboba
3. Mr. Dan Abodakpi
4. Mr. Francis Segbedzi
5. Mr. Ben Sakpaku
6. Agbotadua Kumassah
7. Mr Phillip Agboba Atiasah
8. Mr Alex Agboba Atiasah
9. Torgbui Addo VIII of Klikor
10. Torgbui Agbesi Awusu II
11. Torgbui Gbordzor of Woe
12. Torgbui Honi of Klikor
13. Nyigblanua Eha II of Anloga


2. We have also instructed our lawyers to commence an action to restrain the Volta Region House of Chiefs from processing any application of Mr. Patrick Agboba to be gazetted as the Awoamefia of Anlo till the final determination of the pending suits in the courts.
3. A Petition to the President John Evans Attah Mills to demonstrate to Anlos and Ghanaians his commitment to the rule of law and respect for the courts of Ghana by extending his government’s principle and policy of non-engagement in the matter of the Ga Mantse dispute to the Awoamefia dispute, by distancing his government from any support for and/or recognition of Mr. Patrick Agboba.
4. A Petition to the President John Evans Atta Mills to institute an independent judicial enquiry into the events of 1st November 2007, and recent events involving the blatant misuse of state resources in the illegal action of “out-dooring” Mr. Patrick Agboba which could have led to serious bloodshed and loss of lives, and sanction all those found culpable.
We take the opportunity to appeal to well-meaning Anlos to remain steadfast and patient with us in spite of the very long years this dispute has taken, as we chart this painful path forced on us. In all we do as people of Anlo, we believe and uphold what is spiritually sacred, historically right, morally and legally upright, traditionally appropriate and culturally acceptable. The norms and mores of the people of Anlo are very akin to our very survival and spirituality and therefore any attempt at subverting them, using the coercive apparatus of the state or any other means, amounts to a sacrilegious undermining of our spiritual, moral, mental and social wellbeing as a people. These are the values that guide us in our actions.
We therefore ask for your patience and plead with you to continue to pray for us to have a clear vision that we may know where to stand and what to stand for, because unless we stand for the truth and what is right, Anlo would cease to be Anlo.
Long Live Anlo and long live Ghana .
Signed for Fuiga Agbeve & Adika Drafor Lineages of the Adzorvia Clan of Anlo
1. Amega Andrew Atsu Korkor, Head, Fuiga Agbeve Lineage
2. Amega Kenneth Bina, Principal Member, Fuiga Agbeve Lineage
3. Amega Simon Gada, Principal Member, Fuiga Agbeve Lineage
4. Amega Wisdom Baka, Principal Member, Fuiga Agbeve Lineage
5. Lt. Col (rtd) Courage Togobo, Principal Member, Fuiga Agbeve Lineage
6. Amega C.N. Kwawukume, Head, Adika Drafor Lineage
7. Amega Yaovi Hiadedzi, Principal Member, Adika Drafor Lineage
8. Amega Agbonugla Seth Kwawukume, Principal Member, Adika Drafor Lineage
9. Afetor Wisdom Sadika, Principal Member, Adika Drafor Lineage
10. Amega Seth Goza, Principal Member, Adika Drafor Lineage