The people and traditional leaders of Akposo-Kubi in the Oti Region have beseeched President Akufo-Addo to intervene in what they describe as an attempt to erase their existence in the country.
The Akposos who belong to the Guan ethnic group residing in the Buem area argue their authority on their own lands has been taken by settlers who are now recognized at the Oti Regional House of Chiefs denying them their rightful place at the table.
Addressing the media in Accra today, Paramount Queen Mother of Akposo-Kubi Traditional Area, Inaakika Emieaboe Izealedu III revealed some communities have been renamed just to deny her people their legitimate recognition.
The Queen Mother appealed to President Akufo-Addo to ensure the injustice done to her people was reversed which was occasioned by the LI which created the Oti region. According to her Akposo-Kubi was wrongly captured as Apeso-Kubi in the LI which has now given semblance of legitimacy to a group of settlers tracing their lineage to the Akans as leaders of the community.
Inaakika Emieaboe Izealedu III is therefore demanding an amendment to the LI for the creation of the Oti region. She emphasized that her people are not Togolese and the notion behind that assumption is misplaced. According to her their descent dates to 800 years ago and have been inhabitants of present-day Ghana since then.
She explained after extending their hospitality to some Akan indigenes, it came to their notice that their original name Akposo-Kubi is now pronounced by these Akans as Apeso-Kubi and their tolerance of the then mispronunciation has led to their current predicament.
“We wish to set the records straight that, the Akposos are no less Ghanaians than the Buems, Krachis, Nkonyas, or any other ethnic groups recognized in Ghana. We the Akposos, are hosts to most other ethnic groups within the Oti Region! Because our ancestors were on this land which we now know as part of Ghana long before the arrival of most other ethnic groups”
“How then is it that, the Akposos, who are hosts to most tribes in Oti, can be referred to as Togolese if not for the miscalculated attempt to take over our ancestral lands, and the bundles of rights associated therewith? Queen Inaakika added.
“Upon the creation of the Oti Region, without any challenge to the gazette of Alevle Okitikpo, and without the use of due process, Attu Asiedu procured a gazette and took over the seat of the Akposos at the Oti Regional House of Chiefs.”
“And the excuse that the House of Chiefs has given to us for giving our seat to the imposter Attu Asiedu is that Apeso-Kubi is what is recognized by the LI. that created the Oti Region” she lamented.
“We are calling on the President of the Republic of Ghana, the Honorable Speaker and the Parliament of Ghana, the Ministry of Justice and the Attorney General’s Department, Ministry of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, the Ministry of Local Government and the National House of Chiefs as well as all well-meaning Ghanaians to look into the case of Akposo-Kubi and the Akposo people and to take steps to revert our name. Give us back our rightful place at the Oti Regional House of Chiefs and in the Ghanaian society as indigenes and one of the first ethnic groups to have settled in that part of present-day Ghana,” Inaakika appealed.
Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/103.5FM/Ibrahim Alhassan
