Nungua Dzaasetse Rubbishes Claim By Rival Groups

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The Dzaasetse (Kingmaker) of Nungua Traditional Council, Nii Botwe Laryea II has vehemently denied claims by rival factions in the ongoing chieftaincy dispute in the area that he is not the legitimate Dzaase of the area.

According to him an Accra high court ruling of 2006 being bandied about by his rivals to the effect that he is not the legitimate kingmaker and was thus stopped by the court from holding himself as such is false and baseless and should be disregarded.

He told this paper that King Odafio Welentsi III and himself Nii Botwe are the gazetted chief and kingmaker respectively of Nungua and the records are there for all to see.

It would be recalled that some elders affiliated to Nii Odai Ayiku IV, a claimant to the Nungua chieftaincy title on Monday at a press conference called on the Ministry of Chieftaincy Affairs and the National House of Chiefs not to grant any services to King Odaifio Welentse III because they claim he was not properly installed according to the customs and tradition of the area. They also claimed that an Accra high court in 2006 asked the Dzaasetse Nii Laryea Botwe II not to parade himself as the Dzaasetse. 

But reacting to the claims in an interview late on Monday, Nii Laryea Botwe II said he is the lawful and gazetted Kingmaker of Nungua and those allegations should be ignored.

According to him he won an appeal and also a supreme court ruling in 2010 after which he was gazetted as Nungua Dzaasetse and King Odaifio Welentsi III as Nungua Mantse.     

“Everybody knows that the Nungua chief is King Odaifio Welentsi and everywhere you go the same name Odaifio and the Nungua Dsaasetse, Nii Laryea Botwe II pop up. We all live in Nungua”, he insisted.

Checks conducted by this reporter indicate that the Nungua chiefs installed Nii Laryea Botwe as new Dzaasetse (custodian of the Nungua Stool) at a colourful ceremony at the Nii Mantse Adzin We Royal House in Nungua.

Nii Botwe Laryea II, known in private life as Enoch Odai, who is a director of Liberty Industries at Nungua, became the first person to be installed as Dzaasetse for the people of Nungua in the last 12 years.

Nii Botwe Laryea II succeeded Nii Afotey Odai IV who died in 1998.

It would be recalled that when he was presented before the chiefs and people of Nungua, Nii Quaye Joshua Odai, Head of the Nii Mantse Adzin We family, explained that the various titles and positions in the township could be traced to specific clan houses, and therefore, called on each of the clans to respect one another, and go according to what they have.

He said if every clan house would go by this simple rule, the issue of chieftaincy disputes in the Nungua township would be a thing of the past, and peace would reign in Nungua.