The Judicial Committee of the Volta Regional House of Chiefs (VRHC) has nullified the enstoolment of “Togbe Kodi Adiko VI”, known in private life as Roland Kofi Adiko, as the Paramount Chief (Fiaga) of the Tanyigbe Traditional Area.
The three-member committee, chaired by the Paramount Chief of Woe, Togbui Gbordzo, held that Togbe Etoe Kodzo II’s enstoolment as Fiaga of Tanyigbe was rather legitimate.
After the death of Togbe Kwasi Adiko V, Togbe Etoe Kodzo II was enstooled Paramount Chief, and later, the Adikos also went ahead to install a rival Paramount Chief.
Two gates
The two chieftaincy gates – the Akoto family on the Doku Dzehe stool of the Anyidoto clan and the Adiko family on the Kodi Ayefior stool of the Kodivi clan- for many decades, have rotated the Fiaga position until Togbe Kwasi Adiko V ‘left for his village’, when the two enstoolments took place.
That prompted the Akotos to seek redress at the VRHC.
The petitioners sought that the nomination, selection, confinement and enstoolment of Roland Kofi Adiko of the Kodivi clan as Fiaga of Tanyigbe be declared null and void since it was rather the rightful turn of the Akoto family to ascend the stool.
They insisted the judicial committee of the house declare Togbe Etoe Kodzo II as the recognised and the properly enstooled Paramount Chief of Tanyigbe and sought general damages for breach of the laid down procedure of installation of a Paramount Chief of Tanyigbe.
Giving judgment on Friday, March 21, the committee said there was ample evidence that the paramountcy of the Tanyigbe Traditional Area was not the sole preserve of the Adikos of the Kodivi clan, and the title alternated between the Anyidoto clan and the Kodivi clan.
The judicial committee made it clear that it relied on evidence from numerous sources across history, traditional facts, witnesses, government official records and other exhibits to arrive at the judgment.
Judgment
“From the foregoing and in consideration of the evidence of the legal authorities of the superior courts, we find and hold that: Living memory and recent history of the people, supported by incontrovertible and unassailable documentary proof, point to the fact that the Akotos of the Anyidoto clan were not only chiefs, but also Paramount Chiefs and that the late Togbe Kwasi Adiko V succeeded Togbe Kwami Ekpe Akoto III.
“This judicial committee also finds that the Tanyigbe paramountcy’s rotation, as supported by the petitioner, follows, therefore, from the above that the Paramountcy is not the sole preserve of the Adikos of the Kodivi clan as contained in respondents’ Exhibit 1, which has been presented to the committee.
“This judicial committee also finds and notes accordingly that in view of the findings above, it is the Anyidoto clan which ought to have presented a candidate for the Paramountcy after the death of the late Togbe Adiko V.
“This committee, therefore, declares the enstoolment of “Togbe Kodi Adiko VI” as null and void, and would proceed to set aside the nomination and enstoolment as the paramount chief.”
The committee made it clear that it identified Togbe Etoe Kodzo II from the Anyidoto clan as the appropriate candidate to be nominated and enstooled as paramount chief.
The other members of the committee included the Paramount Chief of Botoku, Togbe Sei II, and the Paramount Chief of Afife, Torgbui Adrakpanya VI.
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