An 80-year-old indigene of Kejebi in the Volta Region, has been arrested by the police for allegedly speaking against the creation of the proposed Oti Region.
Edmond Nyarko, was arrested on Thursday after he was reportedly heard at a popular joint in Kejebi called Counter, saying that the creation of the region was unnecessary.
According to a son of the suspect, the police told them his father was arrested on the instructions of the Kejebi District Chief Executive, Maxwell Asiedu without any charges pressed against him nor a statement taken from him.
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The suspect’s distraught son told Citi News that all attempts to get his father released had proven futile.
“We don’t know what crime he has committed. Only the station commander came and told my brother that he is being brought there and detained for speaking against the proposed Oti Region. The Old man is still at Police custody there since morning. We’ve all been there to check on him. The station commander said he cannot do anything about it.”
Meanwhile, the accused District Chief Executive Maxwell Kofi Asiedu has denied that the old man was arrested for speaking against the creation of the new region.
He said the man was rather arrested for championing the creation of a new country.
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“He was not campaigning against Oti Region. Rather he was campaigning for a new country, that is why we arrested him. He said if we get the Oti Region, we will not be able to get the Western Togoland country,” the DCE explained.
There are ongoing processes to hold a referendum within the Oti enclave, around the Northern part of the Volta Region to carve the new region out of the existing Volta Region.
Some people had raised concerns over the proposal to create the new region, but those concerns didn’t impact the plans to have the new region created.
There is however an active massive campaign within the Oti enclave to have the place carved out of the region as residents believe being made a new region will guarantee development.
Akpafu Odormi residents won’t vote in Oti referendum
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Residents of Akpafu Odormi in the Hohoe Municipality of the Volta Region, will be boycotting the referendum for the creation of the Oti Region, the area’s Assemblyman has said.
The community has been earmarked to be part of the proposed Oti Region which is to be carved out of the current Volta Region.
In protest against their inclusion into the proposed region, residents of Akpafu Odomi refused to take part in the limited voter registration exercise and even chased away Electoral Commission staff.
