Nii Odoi Kwao II, a Member of the Osu stool, has described it as a “scam” any individual claiming to be a member of the Owoo family demanding portions of the Achimota Forest land.
According to him, there is no such family name existing within the Osu Traditional Area.
He stated in a JoyNews interview, Wednesday, May 25, that, if the government wants to release portions of the Achimota Forest lands to allodial owners, then it should be the people of Osu and not the supposed Owoo family.
“It is a scam [Owoo family name] because Owoo family does not exist in Osu. That is number one and they are saying that the Owoo family petitioned them. I am telling you there are thousands and thousands of petitions that the Accra people have made to the government.
“We are saying that, okay fine, we cannot fight the government, if the government wants to release lands and they are sure they are releasing the lands, it is not to the Owoo family, it should be to the people of Osu,” Nii Odoi Kwao II said.
To him, the man known as Nii Owoo died in 1867 without any child; meaning that the late Nii Owoo was not succeeded by any family member.
He explained that because Nii Owoo had no child, his sisters’ children presented themselves as his successors at the time of the acquisition of the Achimota Forest land but they were not given ownership of the land.
“Nii Owoo himself died in 1867 and he had no child at the time of his death, so nobody succeeded him. Nii Owoo has nothing, he joined with the Gbese people. So when this acquisition came in 1921 Nii Owoo’s sister’s children constituted themselves into a new Nii Owoo family and came for the land. Now when they came, they came on the ticket of the Gbese Mantse because it was the Gbese Mantse who gave him a place as a refugee to live and that place includes part of the Achimota Forest.
“If today there is an Owoo family claiming the Achimota Forest land then it is a fraud,” Nii Odoi Kwao II stressed.
“We want to go to court. We will be going to court even though we have some reservations and then we will petition the government …. if they want to release the land, we are all for it,” he added.
