Some sub-chiefs of the Nungua Stool yesterday brought clarity to bare on what they described as a confused state of mind of the Gborbu Wulomo, to usurp the authority of the Nungua Mantse, King Odaifio Welentsi III.
Nii Afotey Gbetse VI, Nungua Asoprotsonaa Mantse who addressed the press stated that the recent happenings in the Nungua Traditional area at the instance of the Gborbu Wulomo to foment trouble and attempt to rewrite the history of the good people of Nungua will not be countenanced.
Nii Gbeste VI said at a press conference that, “There are two main SIGNIFICANT issues we would like to address wholly and put to rest any kind of doubt or ambiguity in the people’s mind and as it may be harboured or entertained also by the Gborbu Wulomo.”
Below is the rest of the text as captured in his statement:
Over here in Nungua, we have various nicknames for the various Wulomoei Charwey Wulomo is referred to as Charwey-Otromei, Osabu is also Osabu- Olatei oo and Abli is Abli-kwakwa and Oshwe is Oshwe Yaado (where the through Shitse really comes from).
When you go to the Gborbu shrine Village there is particular shrine there that is called Shitse and that shrine is worshiped only by the Chief (Nungua Mantse). There’s never once in our history that any Gborbu Wulomo has ever worshiped the Shitse at the Shrine Village. So, if the Wulomo doesn’t even accept the fact that the Chief is the Shitse or landlord, the only shrine referred to as Shitse at the Gborbu Shrine Village is worshiped exclusively by the Nungua Mantse and non-other.
All of these physical explanations aside, in the spiritual terms, at occasion where our priestesses are in their elements and doing their dances, they always refer to every Wulomo as lasulor(fire starter) and refer to the Chiefs as Shitse(landlord) and I want this to be clear to Nuumo Ofu Wulomo that you don’t earn the Shitse title by your contribution to the Ga Dangme state but rather an age old title reserved exclusively to the Nungua Mantse and non-other.
We also have one of our sub chiefs in Nungua called Osabarima Agyeman which obviously tells you that the name has Akan origin but, when you are living you learn and you learn from best practices and known establishments which doesn’t necessarily change one’s culture or identity
That aside, we will urge or challenge anybody, in fact we do both to encourage any well-meaning indigenes of Nungua with creative ideas of coining a new name to be adapted for that last ritual performance of the Kplejoo otherwise we urge everybody to keep quiet and save us the peace we have in Nungua
In fact, this is not the first time a Gborbu Wulomo and his people from the Manafa or Amanfa had attempted to scuttle or distort our history with violent approach to usurp the powers of the Nungua Mantse. They tried that in 1938, 1978 and today 2022 they have repeated the same thing.
We are by this calling on the State security heads i.e IGP, National Security Minister, Minister for Interior and all who matter to immediately step in to forestall future disturbances which may lead to serious consequences because we were equally ready to face off with them but for our peace loving Chief who stopped and calmed us down for the sake of peace in Nungua.
The Gborbu Wulomo is just the Chief Priest and that is all he is and the Nungua Mantse is the High Priest and Shitse of Nungua by virtue of his exclusive worship of the Shitse shrine at the Gborbu Shrine Village.
Much the same way as the reason why we celebrate Obene in Nungua only and no other part of Ga Dangme is because the Borketey Lawei’s people whom we welcome as visitor’s into the Nungua land several years ago whose descendant are the Manafa or Amanfa people came with their own Obene festival or celebrations and we never stopped them because we wanted them to feel at home and they do that without any interruptions from any quarters and we even partake in the celebration.
Another thing about the mandzwinano corrupted to Odwira or purification is that it’s the sole prerogative of the occupant of the stool to purify because the Chief also doubles as Oshwe Wulomo so he has the right to perform purification rites at the royal cemetery to ask for blessings and protection for himself and his subjects without qualms.
Lately, we have watched and noticed with great worry, the way and manner the Gborbu Wulomo carries himself about, his lifestyle and the kind of costumes that he wears amongst other things shows that he really doesn’t care about preserving our tradition and culture. We wish to remind him that the Gborbu Wulomo sits on a white Stool otherwise known as Asesegwa not gold-plated armchair as a chief because it’s a taboo or sacrilege for a Wulomo to adorn himself with gold ornaments. This is certainly an American Wulomo not the one we are used to in Nungua.
We are by this press conference once again drawing the attention of State security heads i.e IGP, National Security Minister, Minister for Interior and all who matter to immediately step in to forestall future disturbances because we are more than capable of handling these goons who do the bidding of the Gborbu Wulomo. We have videos of the Gborbu Wulomo and his henchmen celebrating in the room when his goons were pelting stones and petrol bombs at Nungua Mantse and his entourage and this video is annoying enough to spark massive confusion in Nungua and therefore we are once again urging the Security agencies to take a critical look at these developments.
