The Greater Accra Regional Security Council (REGSEC) has called for calm during the celebration of Homowo and urged all would-be celebrants to co-operate with the law enforcement agencies within its authority. Addressing a press conference in Accra yesterday, the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Sheikh I.C. Quaye, who is also chairman of the council, advised individuals and groups who had intentions to disrupt the festival to desist from it, saying that the REGSEC would not tolerate any acts of lawlessness from any quarter during the celebration. "The Regional Security Council is determined to maintain peace, law and order in the region and the best anyone can do is to co-operate with the law enforcement agencies," he said. The press conference was to react to another press conference held on Monday by a group of Ga elders calling itself the Central Authority of the Ga Paramount Stool, declaring that King Tackie Tawiah III had not been enstooled according to Ga custom, therefore, his installation was null and void. They threatened to thwart any attempt by King Tackie Tawiah III to perform his customary rites for the Homowo celebrations this year. The conveners of the press conference, led by Nii Yaote Oto-Ga, stated among other things that: "We shall not tolerate Dr Jo Blankson parading himself as Ga Mantse this Homowo nor his presence at the stool house to attempt performing any customary rites. Any attempt by the Regional Minister and AMA boss to use the security apparatus to coerce the people of Ga Mashie to allow Jo Blankson to sprinkle kpokpoi this Homowo will not be countenanced." Sheikh Quaye said the enforcement of that threat could trigger another spate of mayhem, adding that the REGSEC had taken note of the threat and would act accordingly. The minister also dismissed media publications that he was behind the Nungua chieftaincy dispute, saying had absolutely nothing to do with it. He said he doubled as the regional minister and chairman of REGSEC and in both positions it was to his credit that there should be peace, law and order. Tracing events leading to the Nungua chieftaincy dispute, Sheikh Quaye said peace reigned at Nungua until Nii Odai Ayiku IV, who had been hounded out of Ghana by the PNDC, returned from exile in Britain. He said because of the dispute that had developed as a result of the return of Nii Ayiku from exile, the REGSEC had ruled that neither of the disputing chiefs in the town should publicly perform any traditional functions including Homowo. They could do so within the confines of their homes. He said Nii Ayiku did not pay heed to the REGSEC directives but went ahead to issue out invitation letters to invited guests to attend Kpledzoo at the Nungua durbar grounds. Based on that information, he said, King Odaifio Welentsi III, one of the claimants to the Nungua stool, went to an Accra Fast Track High Court to seek an ex-parte motion to restrain himself and Nii Ayiku from celebrating the Kpledzoo as directed by the Ga Traditional Council but the court dismissed his application. Sheikh Quaye said on Friday, July 27, 2007, Nii Ayiku and others sought and obtained an order from an Accra Fast Track High Court to provide police protection prior to and during the celebration of the festival and to restrain any other person from obstructing him from holding the durbar. He stated that Nii Welentsi and his elders, on hearing the court order brought in by Nii Ayiku empowering him to perform Kpledzoo, rushed to a High Court in Tema and sought an ex-parte motion and it was ordered by the court that both sides should be restrained from holding a durbar pending the final determination of the case. He said the REGSEC met on Wednesday, July 25, 2007 and decided that both parties should not appear on the durbar grounds but to celebrate their individual Kpledzoo festivals in their respective homes. The District Police Officer, Nungua, wrote to both parties restraining them from holding the durbar on the durbar grounds. The minister said on July 28, 2007, at 6:30 a.m, information reached the police that Nii Ayiku's faction were preparing the durbar grounds for the function and that he was going to be carried in a palanquin to the durbar grounds as the Mantse of Nungua, which would breach the peace of the area. Sheikh Quaye said the Kpeshie Divisional Commander dispatched men to the grounds to stop the organisers from holding the event as a breach of the peace was likely to occur but they refused the Police order. The situation, he said, became tense when the police heard that Nii Ayiku was in a palanquin heading towards the durbar grounds and that the other faction was also preparing to react. He added that the police started dismantling the canopies and the supporters of Nii Odai Ayiku resorted to throwing stones and other offensive objects at the police. The minister said in order to defuse tension, the Regional Commander, Accra Region, called for reinforcement and added that the police used long batons, tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the riotous mob. He urged the media to exhibit truthfulness, objectivity and a sense of responsibility in their reports on security issues. The Accra Regional Commander of the Ghana Police Service, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Douglas Akrofi Asiedu, said some arrests had been made in the Gbese and Nungua riots and that some individuals had appeared before court. Source: Daily Graphic