Torgbui Afia Awunor Detu
TORGBUI AFLAAwunor Detu IX, claimant to the Aflao stool, has been remanded into police custody by a high court in Ho, the Volta Regional capital.
Torgbui Detu, known in private life as Raphael Kojovi Fiho, was said to have been invited and later arrested by the police on Thursday for allegedly flouting a court order barring him from entering Aflao and subsequently holding an event to outdoor himself as the paramount chief of the area.
Five others, being supporters of the incumbent chief, Torgbui Fiti V, were also arrested and taken to the Aflao Police Station.
The move by Torgbui Detu, security agencies believed, could spark violence and hence arraigned him before the court accordingly. He was charged on two counts of offensive conduct and organizing a public event without recourse to the Public Order Act. He is to re-appear on Thursday, 30 October, 2014.
The presiding judge, Justice Patrick Baayeh, who refused the accused bail, noted that although the offence was a bailable one, the remand was for the safety of the accused and the people of Aflao.
He said the freedom of the accused should also be balanced with the safety and interest of the Aflao people.
Narrating the incident in court, the State Attorney, Moses Asampoa, said the complainant in the case is Torgbui Adzonugaga Amenya Fiti V, Paramount Chief of the Aflao Traditonal Area, while the accused is a surveyor resident in Tema.
On September, 2013 the family of the accused was preparing to perform the final funeral rites of their late grandfather by stool name, Torgbui Awunyo Detu VIII, who died in 1945 as the paramount chief of Aflao, but the funeral did not come off.
According to Mr. Moses Asampoa, the complainant had information that the family of the accused was also preparing him (Raphael) as the paramount chief of the Aflao Traditional Area. The information received by the complainant was confirmed by radio discussions in the area.
Torgbui Fiti, therefore, in a letter entitled, ‘Notice of Mounting Chieftaincy Threat to Peace and Security’ informed the police accordingly.
Investigation by the Aflao police confirmed the report. The police also saw armed youth believed to be supporters of Torgbui Fiti, patrolling the streets of Aflao in the night amidst chanting of war songs and firing of musketry in resistance to the rival chief’s installation and outdooring.
The police then applied to the Aflao Circuit Court for an injunction to restrain the accused and his family from carrying out the planned outdooring and that was granted. The suspect appealed against the decision at the high court in Ho.
The high court judge, Justice N.C.A. Agbevor, reversed the decision of the Aflao Circuit Court, but ordered both parties to refrain from doing anything that could further breach the peace of the municipality.
Realizing that the activities of Torgbui Afla Awunor Detu IX could breach the peace of the area, they arrested and arraigned him before the Ho High Court, leading to his being remanded.
FROM Fred Duodu, Ho
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