The people of Nungua speaking through Nii Afotey Gbetse VI, Nungua Asoprotsonaa Mantse has roundly condemn what they described as “indecent conduct” on the part of the chief priest of Nungua and his goons for attacking the procession of Nungua Mantse and his entourage who were en-route to perform rituals at the Royal Cemetery of Nungua last Thursday.
A little background to the cause of mayhem reveals that there is a subtle turf war or underground manoeuver by the Gborbu Wulomo who is also know in private life as Steven Akwetey to usurp the powers of Nungua Mantse and hence the intermittent disruptions and confusions fomented by his goons under his instigations.
In an interview with Nii Gbetse VI to find out the cause of the mayhem last Thursday, the Asoprotsonaa Mantse stated that “it’s high time the Gborbu Wulomo is brought to book or checked over his ugly noises and confusions here and there purporting to be the overlord of Nungua when there is a Paramount Chief in the name of King Odaifio Welentsi III”.
He said, “this begs no serious thinking or any form of mental exercise to appreciate the fact that the chief priest of a town or state is simply the chief priest of that town or state and nothing more or less than that”.
“In the history of African Tradition and Culture, there has never been a priest or the Chief Priest of a land whom the chief or King consult for oracles and rituals who ever owned a land where there’s a chief or king”, Nii Gbetse VI explained.
He said, by inference, the name Gborbu is self-explanatory enough and it literally means the ‘visitor’s corner’, so how can any priest who possess some form of divine powers who are usually sojourners adapted by chiefs and kings of a land to guide them spiritually turn around to claim the land?, Nii Gbetse VI quizzed.
Again, he asked, “can you ever imagine that if Okomfo Anokye had descendants and for all the things he did for Ashanti Kingdom, his descendant will wake up one day and lay claim to Ashanti Kingdom when the Ashantis were the ones who accepted his ancestor(Komfo Anokye) into their fold for his powers?”
“In fact in the Odwira/Ohenease Committee report, it clearly states that for peace and tranquility, the Gborbu Wulomo shall be made one of the signatories to the Nungua stool and should be made a member of the Traditional Council too. So if you are just a member of the council and the Chief is the one who Chairs’ the Council meetings how could the Wulomo ever be the lord of the land or ‘Shitse’,” Nii Gbetse VI asked.
“It’s only in Nungua that you will find a chief priest who sits on a gold plated armchair which in itself is a taboo” he stressed.
On the issue of the confusion over why the procession was dubbed Odwura which sounds more of Akan festival, Asoprotsonaa Mantse opined that the Odwura means to purify and that’s not celebrating any akan festival as the Wulomo and his cohorts would have people believe. Besides “culture and tradition evolves and we learn from each other and I don’t really find anything wrong with that. In fact this is not the first time we have done this rituals to purify the land. The last one before this was actually done peacefully in 2019 and so why this confusion now?
In any case, most of our ‘Asafo’ songs and our chants are in Akan how about that, it doesn’t make us Gas’?