Omanhene murdered; Assailants on the run
An easy calm is hanging over the otherwise peaceful town of Seikwa, in the Brong Ahafo Region, following the murder in cold blood of the Paramount Chief of the area, Nana Kwaku Dwuma Ankoana II, on Monday night.
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Consequently, residents of the Seikwa Traditional Area have been thrown into a state of mourning and shock.
The police have also begun a major man-hunt for the perpetrators of the gruesome murder of the overlord of Seikwa.
So far, no arrest has been made and extra police hands have been deployed in the area.
A day after the incident, many of the residents, clad in black and red mourning cloths, were wailing the death of the chief who had been shot in his chest at his private residence at 8.30 p.m. on Monday.
Some residents were, in the morning of yesterday, seen trooping to the palace and the private residence of the chief to mourn and express their sympathy with the Seikwa Traditional Council and the bereaved family.
The motive for the killing of Nana Ankoana, who was the Chief Executive Officer of Soapem Company Limited, a construction firm, is not immediately known.
The residents wonder what the reason could be for the murder, since they claim there is no chieftaincy dispute in the area.
The situation in the town is said to be volatile, a development which has prompted the police to beef up security to prevent any reprisal attacks.
The incident occurred when the chief was said to be relaxing in the porch of his private residence, just two houses from the palace at Seikwa, after he had returned home from a function to climax the annual festival of the traditional area.
Shortly after the shooting, some family members raised alarm and Nana Ankoana was rushed to the Seikwa Health Centre where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
His body has since been deposited at the Brong Ahafo Regional Hospital in Sunyani for autopsy, pending further investigations into the matter.
The Berekum Municipal Police Commander, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Mr Asare Bediako, told the Daily Graphic that investigations were underway to bring the perpetrators to book.
He said a team of policemen had been deployed in the town to maintain law and order and prevent any possible reprisals.
According to sources, the chief received some death threats some time ago from some unidentified persons.
Again, it was gathered that some time ago unidentified people on board an unlicensed 4x4 vehicle came to serve the sub-chiefs of the Seikwa Traditional Area with letters demanding the Omanhene to account for his stewardship or destool himself.
Two months later, similar letters were found on the streets of Seikwa.
After the distribution of those letters demanding his stewardship, his 4x4 vehicle was set ablaze in front of his private residence.
Nana Ankoana was enstooled as the Omanhene of the Seikwa Traditional Area about 17 years ago.
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The Seikwa Traditional Area is one of the urban communities within the Tain District and one of the three paramountcies in the district. The other two traditional areas are Badu and Nsawkaw, the district capital, as well as two divisional areas, namely, Nasana and Debibi.
The Seikwa Traditional Area has a population of 9,196, comprising 4,331 males and 4,865 females, according to the Tain District Assembly Database.
The area shares a common boundary with Berekum to the west and Odumase in the Sunyani West District to the south, as well as the Badu Traditional Area in the Tain District to the north and the Nasana Division to the east.
The people of Seikwa are believed to have migrated from Cote d'Ivoire to their present place. The language spoken by the people is Nkoran.
The traditional area has a senior high school (SHS) called Nkoraman SHS and a health assistant training school.
The people of Seikwa are predominantly farmers and some of the food crops they produce are maize, yam, plantain, as well as pepper.
Although the town has a semblance of an urban area, the link roads from Berekum and Nsawkaw are in a deplorable state, making it very difficult to ply.
The sod was cut for the construction of the road from Berekum through Seikwa to Nsawkaw in 2009, but works have been halted as a result of lack of funds.
Some prominent personalities and politicians who hail from the traditional area are Mr Johnson Aseidu Nketia, the current General Secretary of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) and former Member of Parliament for Wenchi, and the late Lawyer Yaw Obeng Manu of the New Patriotic Party.
The Tain District became popular in the 2008 presidential run off because it determined the winner of the 2008 presidential election.
Daily Graphic/Ghana