Tabloid News of Saturday, 1 June 2002

Source: The Spectator

Police stop youth from lynching chief

Krofa (Ashanti Region) - But for the timely intervention of a police reinforcement team from Agogo and Juaso, the Police personnel at Krofa station last weekend would have gone through hell at the hands of the citizens of Adomfe and Krofa in the Asante Akim South District for giving refuge to Nana Baafi popularly referred to as "Okoto" a self-acclaim chief.

Nana Baafi, they say, has been terrorising people from the two towns for no apparent reason and has been described as a thorn in the flesh of the people in the area. On the day in question, Nana Baafi, then in the company of three accomplices, was said to have heavily assaulted two youngmen from the two towns.

The two traumatised youngmen sought refuge at the Krofa Police Station, but Nana Baafi and his accomplices chased them to the police station and subjected them to another round of beating. The residents of Adomfe got wind of what was happening and sent for a mob from Krofa which marched straight to the Krofa Police Station where Nana hidden and ordered the police to release them to face their wrath. So tense was the situation that the police had no option but to call for reinforcement from the Agogo and Juaso police.

Narrating the incident to The Spectator, Nana Agyarkoma II, Queenmother of Krofa said Nana Baafi has since last year been brutalising people of the area without provocation because he claims he has money and can, therefore, do anything and go scot-free.

She said the situation had been so alarming that the youth in the area have sworn to cause serious injury to anybody who would come to the aid of Nana Baafi on the day they would lay hands on him. Nana Agyarkoma II said she would use her position to advise the youth to desist from any act of violence for the law to take its cause.

When contacted, a reliable Police source at Krofa confirmed the story and added that Nana Baafi and two of his accomplices have been arrested and would be put before court after police investigations have been completed.