..of Agyeiwabota Stool
Kumasi, June 12, GNA - Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, Asantehene, has ordered Opanin Yaw Anto of Duase near Kumasi, not to any longer hold himself as the Abuasuapanin (Family Head) of the Agyeiwabota Stool, caretaker of Duase lands. The Asantehene has in addition, restrained him from selling any plot of land at Duase.

A press statement issued in Kumasi and signed by Mr Charles Osei Bonsu, a Senior State Secretary of the Kumasi Traditional Council, warned that any breach of the orders by Opanin Anto would attract severe sanctions. It affirmed Oheneyere Agyeiwabota and Nana Akwasi Gyambibi, Abradehene, as the accredited caretakers of the Duase Stool lands.

The statement said the Asantehene has resolved to personally ensure that adequate security arrangements were made to ensure that sanity prevailed in the sale of stool lands at Duase. It directed all individuals who have acquired building plots from Opanin Anto and his children to present documents covering the transaction to Oheneyere Agyeiwabota and Nana Gyambibi or risk losing title to those plots.

The statement said the decision by the Asantehene to remove Opanin Anto, as Abusuapanin, and detach him from the stool land followed his display of gross disrespect to the Golden Stool. Giving the background, it said Opanin Anto personally enstoolled his niece Ageiwabota as Oheneyere (Wife of the Asantehene) making her the legitimate caretaker of the Duase stool land, during the reign of Otumfuo Opoku Ware II, the late Asantehene.

On the ascension to the Golden Stool by Otumfuo Osei Tutu, Opanin Anto started moves to destool her, claiming she was not a true royal to the stool as his relationship with her was paternal. The statement pointed out that since land was the cause of the litigation over the Stool, the Asantehene directed the parties not to go to the land or sell any part of it until he had sat on the case and given a ruling. This, Opanin Anto refused to comply with as he went about selling the land for estate development and even filed a writ in court.