The GaDangme Council has strongly condemned the recent attacks on members of the Nii Odoi Kwao Family during their participation in traditional Homowo festival rites in the Nima area of the Greater Accra Region.

The Nii Odoi Kwao Family are recognised as the allodial owners of Nima, and the attacks were allegedly orchestrated by a rival stranger mantse (chief) who mobilised angry youth against the performance of the traditional rites.

In a statement dated Monday September 11, 2023 and signed by the president, Nii Ayikoi Otoo, the Council expressed its deep disapproval of these actions, deeming them unacceptable and disrespectful of the GaDangme culture, customs, and practices. 

The Council characterised the acts as sacrilegious and demanded an unqualified apology from those involved in the incident, emphasising that such challenges to allodial landowners by strangers could result in the forfeiture of their right to remain on the land.

The incident, which saw the youth threaten elders and disrupt the traditional food-sprinkling ceremony, has raised tensions within the community and has been met with condemnation by the GaDangme Council, which seeks to uphold and protect the cultural heritage of the GaDangme people, the statement concluded.