<<Print>>

The palace of the chief of Nyinahini, in the Atwima Mponua District of the Ashanti Region was on Sunday, attacked by a group of people in an attempt to kill the chief, Nana Amampene Twum Boateng.

This was in connection with the murder of the Head Pastor of the Alladura Church for which the chief was accused of complicity.

It was quite a scene as the group of about 70 people fired indiscriminately and the Nyinahini police could not match the power of the gangsters who were said to be armed with AK-47 assault rifles.

A police reinforcement was called from Nkawie, but by the time they arrived, the gangsters had left.

The group had stormed the palace, seeking to kill the chief, Nana Amampene Twum Boateng, who fortunately, was in Accra at the time.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Frederick Mensah, the District Police Commander, told The Ghanaian Times that efforts were being made to arrest the gangsters.

He confirmed that the chief’s own family and some community members were behind the attack.

“About 70 weapon-wielding machomen stormed the Nyinahini palace and, subsequently, the police station last Sunday, in an attempt to cause mayhem to the chief who they thought, was in town,” he said.

DSP Mensah alleged that the attackers were hired by the chief’s own family members with support from the residents and even some members of the traditional council.

It would be recalled that The Ghanaian Times carried a story in its Wednesday, November11, 2015 with the headline, “Chief attacked during Akwasidae”, in which it was reported that a seven-member gang sought to kill him, but he managed to escape.

Three of the suspects were later arrested and put before court, but were later released on bail.

Speaking to The Ghanaian Times on phone, Nana Twum, alLecturer at the University of Ghana Legon, who was then at the lecture hall, believed that the attackers were those who raided the palace on that fateful Akwasidae festival, but escaped arrest.

It was not very clear what triggered the Sunday attack, but speculations in the town had it that it was connected to the release by a court, of Nana Twum Boateng and three others accused of the murder of Paul Abraffah, 60, the Head Pastor of the Church of the Lord, popularly called Alladura, on Septemebr1, 2014.

The Ghanaian Times, on October15, last year, reported that the chief and three others had been released by the Nkawie circuit court on October 9.

The Presiding Judge, Mr. Michael Johnson Addo, acquitted and discharged the chief, a member of the Board of Directors of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), and three others, Bismark Atta Snr., also known as Jordan, his brother, Oheneba Kwaku Duah, and Obiri Yeboah Asante, also known as Kwakdwo Ketewa, a carpenter.

The prosecution had told the court that “there was overwhelming evidence that the pastor was murdered, but there was absolutely no evidence to connect any of them”.

Prosecution then advised that the suspects be absolved of the charges and the case against them dropped.

Their plea to the charge of conspiracy to murder and committing murder was not taken.