The Supreme Council of Nmati Abonase Quarter of La has declared Nii Adjei Boahen as the only legitimate Chief of Nmati Abonase traditional area.

Briefing the media in Accra, the Chairman of the Quarter, Mr. Gilbert Obli Lomotey stated that the shikitele who was installed by the Nmati Mantse turned around to sumon him to the La Traditional Council in an attempt to destool him as Nmati Abonase Mantse with the charge that the Nmati Mantse Nii Adjei Boahen is not the legetimate chief and that he should account for all properties in his under his care which never live to see the light of day.

This according to him, the Shikitele and some elders took the matter to the Accra High Court which the Nmati Mantse responded to all the charges against him.

This the judges saw no merit in the case which compels them to strick the case out.

Below is unedited press statement in which the Supreme Council of Nmati Abonase issued to set the records straight.

PRESS CONFERENCE BY THE SUPREME COUNCIL OF NMATI ABONASE QUARTER OF LA ON CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS IN THE NMATI AONASE QUARTER LADIES AND GENTLEMEN OF THE PRESS

We have invited you here today to brief you about recent developments in the Nmati Abonase Quarter of La and correct the misinformation that a few disgruntled elements in the Quarter have been putting in the media for personal and selfish reasons.

Background to current developments in the Quarter

2. In 2002 the La Traditional notified Nii Adjei Boahen ll the Nmati Abonase Mantse that the Quarter should provide a substantive Shikitele of La to succeed Nii Odametey ll who had joined the ancestors in 2006.

3. The Supreme Council of the Quarter led by Nii Adjei Boahen ll accordingly met and sent emissaries to Kone Adu We whose turn it was to provide a candidate for the position of La Shikitele who is also the Dzorbu Wulomo(Fetish priest of the Dzorbu Shrine) in accordance with custom. Ultimately Koney Adu We provided the name of one young man, Michael Adjetey whose nomination was accepted by the Supreme Council.

4. After performance of the necessary rites and customs Nii Adjei Boahen ll and the Supreme Council caused invitations to be sent out to the La Traditional Council, dignitaries and all Houses in La for the outdooring of the new Shikitele of La. On 30th June, 2012 the new Shikitele of La with the Stool name Nii Adjei Koofeh IV was accordingly oudoored by Nii Adjei Boahen ll and the Supreme Council of the Quarter(see a copy of the invitation issued for the occasion).

5. Ladies and Gentlemen, barely a year after his installation as Shikitele of La, information reached the Supreme Council that some disgruntled elements in the Quarter had started holding clandestine meeting with the new Shikitele with the view to undermining Nii Adjei Boahen ll, the Akutsotse and destabilize the Quarter.(These disgruntled elements are well known for teaming up with some Quarters to undermine the Nmati Quarter during the reign of Nii Adjei Koofeh lll and Nii Okpoti Onten lll (Owula Koney Tsuru) all of blessed memory)

6. Not long after, anonymous notice were pasted in the Quarter by known agents of disgruntled elements, questioning the legitimacy of Nii Adjei Boahen ll’s positon as the Akutsotse of the Quarter.

At a meeting of the Supreme Council held on 13th November, 2013 attended by over 20 members of the Council including Nii Adjei Boahen ll the Nmati Abonase Mantse, Nii Adjei Koofeh IV. La Shikitele , Nii Adjetey Adjei Wa l, Nmati Abonase Otseame;Nii Laryea Ope, Head of Koney Adu We;Nii Okpoti Odumanye,Acting Head of Okpoti Kuma We, and Lawyer Nsiah Akuetteh, the lawyer for the Quarter for more than 36 years, the Lawyer informed the meeting that Nii Adjei Boahen ll had been the Akutsotse for the Quarter for more than 26 years and was duly gazetted by then Elders of the Quarter.

He produced a copy of the Government Gazette no. 3 of Friday, 28th February, 1992 to the meeting. The gazette was openly read to the meeting by Nii Adjei Koofeh IV the La Shikitele which confirmed Nii Adjei Boahen ll’s position as the Akutsotse of Nmati Abonase Quarter. Everybody then thought the matter had been put to rest. (a copy of the Gazette is attached)

7. Suprisingly, in December 2013 it came to the attention of the Supreme Council that the Shikitele had convened a meeting with some selected Elders from Osekre We and the Quarter without the knowledge of Nii Adjei Boahen ll and the Supreme Council where the same allegations that NII Adjei Boahen ll was not the Akutsotse of the Quarter had been canvassed.

8. Nii Okpoti Odumanye the Acting Head of Okpoti Kuma We therefore invited Elders of Nmati to a meeting at the residence of the late Okpoti Onten lll (Owula Koney Tsuru). After the members were served with breakfast, Nii Okpoti Odumanye informed the members that a resolution of destoolment of Nii Adjei Boahen ll as the Akutsotse had been prepared by some persons in the Quarter and a meeting was going to be called at Kone Adu We to sign. He therefore cautioned members not to sign any such resolution.

9. Surprisingly, when the clandestine meeting was called Nii Okpoti Odumanye and some few Elders of the Quarter signed the resolution. Some of the deep thinking and principal Elders of the Quarter including the Head of Nii Lometey Oblie We refused to sign the declaration. London House later wrote to nullify the signature of their Elders since he was deliberately misled to sign.

10. In response to London House’s stance on the matter , the group sent a message to them not to use the Shikitele’s name and the Clan Heads’ name on their funeral posters. Furthermore at Homowo Festival Kpokpoi from London House and Lomotey Oblie We were not used for the sprinkling as has been the tradition.

11. These developments created serious problems in the Quarter which threatened to destroy the peace and stability the Quarter had enjoyed for over 25 years. To curtail these developments the Supreme Council of the Quarter in their wisdom appointed a Mediation/Arbitration Committee of some well known and respected Elders of the Quarter to try and resolve the differences and bring peace to the Quarter.

The Committee was made up of the following:

1. Rev. Dr. Ayitey Mensah
2. Rev. Dr. Mamah Markwei
3. Lawyer D. R.K. Sanka
4. Mr. Bryden L. Koney
5. Mr. Simon Odamtten

12. The Committee had initial meetings with Nii Adjei Boahen ll the Akutsotse , the Shikitele Nii Adjei Koofeh IV and Lawyer Nsiah Akuetteh. The meetings were very cordial with the parties indicating their willingness for amicable resolution of the differences. A follow up meeting with the Shikitele and Elders of Kone Adu We proved futile as they claimed they did not hnow nor recognize those who constituted the Committee. The Committee could therefore not make a headway and carry out its mandate.

13. Subsequently fake letterheads of the Quarter was forged by some of the members of the Quarter to widely circulate false and defamatory information about Nii Adjei Boahen ll that he has never been the Akutsotse of the Quarter and that he had fraudulently forged the Gazette recognizing him as the Akutsotse.

This was at a time that the Lawyer for the Quarter Lawyer Nsiah Akuetteh had complained to the Supreme Council that gang in the Quarter had forged the official stamp of his Law Firm and had been forging his signature to steal and sell the Trust lands behind the Trade Fair.

The lawyer had further informed the Supreme Council that a member of Koney Adu We known as Ago Positive was arrested in connection with the said forgery after the Elders of Koney Adu We came to pled with him to drop the case whereupon he informed them that he was not the complaint in the case but a potential witness.

14. It soon became clear that the La Shikitele who is the Dzorbu Wulomo of the Quarter was seeking to relegate his fetish duties in the Quarter to the background and rather fight over the position of Akutsotse!

These intentions were exposed when a clandestine document was leaked in the Quarter claiming that the Shikitele is a one-man –thousand in the Quarter.

That among other things he is the spiritual leader of all Nmati citizen; Christians, Muslim and Atheists alike; that he is the Dzorbu Wulomo; that he is the Akutsotse of Nmati; that he is the Treasurer of the Quarter; and that he is the owner and custodian of all assets of the Quarter. Yet not even the Lakpa Wulomo makes any such claim in the Lenshie Quarter or in La! And we are yet to find any fetish priest in La who is also Akutsotse.

15. These and other development in the Quarter led to various court actions between the Akutsotse and those behind the forged documents and defamatory statements. Some of the reliefs being sought in these actions were denied by the Court of Appeal. In the course of the actions the Shikitele surprisingly swore to various Affidavits claiming Nii Adjei Boahen ll WAS NOT THE AKUTSOTSE AND HAS NEVER BEEN THE AKUTSOTSE OF NMATI ABONASE QUARTER thereby raising doubts about the legitimacy of his own installation as the Shikitele of La which was performed by the same Nii Adjei Boahen ll in his capacity as the NMATI ABONASE AKUTSOTSE (see a copy of such Affidavit)

16. Incidentally when the Shikitele held his clandestine meeting with selected Elders of the Quarter on 2nd Decmber, 2013 their own minutes they released signed by Fred Afful as Secretary said the Shikitele informed the meeting as follws:- ‘’Nii Shikitele , presiding ,informed us all that he was ware Nii Adjei Boahen ll had been gazetted earlier on in 1987’’.

17. The minutes continued as follows:- ‘’ Nii Shikitele indicated to the delegation that it was Nii Adjei Boahen ll he came to meet as Akutsotse and it is him he has been attending Traditional Council meetings with all this while. He is the one the Council has been working with as Abonase Akutsotse..’’

18. It further continued ; ‘’ Nii Okpoti Odumanye , Acting Head of Nii Okpoti Kuma We,in his submission, reiterated that Nii Adjei Boahen ll had been dully gazette, according to the laws governing the Chieftaincy Institution’’.(a copy of the minutes are attached)

19. How thse same persons can now suddenly make an about –turn and claim that Nii Adjei Boahen ll HAS NEVER BEEN THE AKUTSOTSE OF NMATI ABONASE QUARTER speaks volumes about their characters and who they really are!

20. In pursuance of their selfish agenda, on 10th November 2014, Nii Koney Laryea, Nii Okpoti Odumanye, Nii Okpoti Boi-Teng, Nii Armah Agoe, Nii Laryea Quarshie and Nii Mence Mensah claiming to be the Kingmakers of Nmati Abonase Quarter filled a petition against Nii Adjei Boahen ll in the Judicial Committee of the La Traditional Council claiming they have removed him from office. Nii Adjei Boahen ll caused his lawyers to file Notice of a legal objection on 18th December, 2014 that the petition was bogus and incompetent in law and should be thrown out. After filling the legal objection the petitioners were unable to proceed with the case.

21.Since they were motivated by their selfish agenda to bury the truth and spread lies and falsehood about the Akutsotse who has for over a quarter of a centry successfully fought many battles for the Quarter and brought peace to the Quarter , these disgruntled Elders (who have teamed up with known fraudsters in the Quarter) still claiming to be the Kingmakers onf Nmati Abonase sued Nii Adjei Boahen ll in the High Court on 20th November, 2016 claiming the following reliefs:

a. An order directed at the Defendant to account for his stewardship from 1982 till date.

b. Declaration that the Plaintiffs having removed the Defendant as acting Akutsotse, the Defendant cannot lawfully hold himself out as a representative of the Nmati Abonase Quarter.

c. A further order directed at the Defendant to handover all properties of the Quarter in his possession to the Plaintiffs.

d. An order to restrain the Defendant from holding himself out as an Akutsotse and or as lawful representative of the Quarter.

22. Ladies and Gentlemen Nii Adjei Boahen ll once again challenged the claim of the so-called Kingmakers and caused his lawyers to move the Court to throw out the case as bogus and fraudulent which the Court has no jurisdiction to deal with. On 31st January, 2018 the High Court dismissed their action and referring to Nii Adjei Boahen ll’s Affidavit in support of his motion said the following, among others things;

‘’Paragraph 5 of the affidavit in support reads:

‘’That in my capacity as a Chief of the Quarter, l have also litigated and defended several suits for and on behalf of the Quarter to the knowledge of the Plaintiffs’’

He exhibited, exhibit 3 in support of this assertion. Paragraph 3 of Exhibit 3, a writ of summons attached to the application read:

‘’That plaintiff is the chief of the Nmati Abonase Quarter of La and an accredited member of the La Traditional Council and bring this action on his own behalf and on behalf of the Nmati Abonase Quarter’’.

This piece of evidence was never challenged by the plaintiffs’’.

23. The High Court accordingly upheld the objection of Nii Adjei Boahen ll and dismissed the action of the self-proclaimed Kingmakers of Nmati Abonase Quarter. By this judgement Nii Adjei Boahen ll’s position as the one and only Akutsotse of Nmati Abonase Quarter remains unshaken contrary to falsehoods circulated by the self-seekers.( a copy of the judgement is attached)

24. Ladies and Gentlemen this is the state of affairs of the once respected and peaceful Nmati Quarter. Today self-seekers, known crocks and fraudsters in the Quarter and beneficiaries have sought to hijack the running of the Quarter. They have sought to use their fetishes to intimidate others forgetting that the Quarter has many members of Christian faith and other religious faiths who worship the only Living God and are not afraid to stand by the truth.

Today they are revealing their true characters. They have connived with persons from other Quarters, collected huge sums of monies and sold the African Lake portion of the Trade Fair lands when they know that for years the Quarter led by Nii Adjei Boahen ll the Akutsotse , has been in Court with Government claiming compensation or return those lands, thereby attempting to undermine the Quarter’s action.

Today they and their gangsters have invaded the Trust lands stealing and selling lands of old men and women of La and exchanging them for vehicles. You do no need to look far to know who these persons are and what their true intentions are. But what we know is that time will catch up with them because at the end of the day EVIL does not triumph over GOODNESS.

Thank you and may the Good Lord Bless you all.