Assailants Shot Chiefs Near Prampram
The Chief of Kpatseredor, Agotor and Hwuapa, farming communities within the Great Ningo Traditional Area of the Ningo-Prampram District, is appealing to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the Interior Minister and the Greater Accra Regional Minister to, as a matter of urgency, intervene in a chieftaincy dispute that has become a subject of gunshots in recent times in the area.
Nene Naryertey Agborkey III has for thr second time been lucky to escape death after he and three members of his entourage were at the receiving end of several gunshots when they were returning from a meeting at their village to Accra.
This has left the chief sustaining wounds all over his upper body and is on the verge of losing his left eye.
He is currently undergoing surgery to retrieve some pellets that have entered his body.
The vehicle they were using was not spurred either by the pellets from the gunshots.
Meanwhile, the Ningo-Prampram District Police Command has confirmed the incident, adding that two persons have been arrested while investigations are ongoing.
Ordeal
Narrating his ordeal to the DAILY HERITAGE newspaper, Nene Agborkey said, “I have been successfully installed as chief of Kpatseredo, Agotor and Hwuapa since April 11, 2011.
“I continued my work with the elders at the village all these while until it got to a point that some people within the same area rose against me”.
“Anytime we tried to hold a meeting, they would come to attack us. We have been trying to look for a solution to this. So sometime in 2019, we went to the village and these same people came to attack us.
“This was after we realised that somebody was raising a structure on my father’s farmland… We made a report to the police and they arrested them. However, it appears the police are not helping us after that incident.”
He went on to add that, “sometime in January this year, I travelled and when I came back, there was a meeting that I needed to attend at the village, and all of a sudden, these same people came with cutlasses and guns to attack us. My secretary was beaten and his record book was torn apart, and that was when we noticed they were up to something we cannot describe.”
Ambush
He told the paper that, “We reported the case and in fact it was the police that came to the village to pick me out of the village then.
“They wanted to kill me and then exactly on June 9, we went for another meeting and while we were returning to Accra, the same group of people were laying ambush and started shooting at us. They fired a number of gunshots. I realised I was hurt in my face, forehead, and my neck”, he stated.
“Three pellets entered my forehead, and four on top of my eyes, four behind my neck. Then, I realised something had hit my eyes. My entourage urged me on to drive away else, we would be killed. I have to summon the courage to drive away so that they will not kill us. I managed to drive away and we went to Some and later reported the case to the Police.”
Warning
Nene Agborkey told the paper that prior to this attack, he had heard that someone he described as “cousin” had warned to send people after his life.
“Before then, I had information that one of my cousins is warning me that he will bring armed robbers to attack me. So, it tells me that within the Great Ningo Traditional Area, some of these things (attacks) have been happening”, he said.
Appeal to govt
He said the recent killings of some chiefs of Ningo, Ada and Prampram call for swift and urgent government intervention since the people are leaving in fear and panic.
“I am urging the government to take the necessary steps to intervene in the situations within Ningo Traditional Areas.
“Some of the attackers we do not know where they are coming from and they are beating farmers to take over their farmlands to win sand.
He observed that these killings and harassment of farmers are still happening and that “we call on the governments to send a delegation to ascertain the situation for themselves. We want farmers to do their farming peacefully.”
He also appealed to the government to give them police post because from Tsopoli or Prampram, where the police posts are to Kpatseredor village and its environs is a bit distant, and that before the police would reach there, the harm would already have been caused and the perpetrators gone.
Police escort
The Ningo-Prampram District Police Commander has said investigations are ongoing and for the time being, the chief and his entourage would be given police escort anytime they want to have a meeting.
Source: News Desk
