NPP condemns Western Togoland secessionist movement

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has come out to officially condemn the actions of the Volta Separatist group known as the Homeland Study Group Foundation (HSGF) that is directed at seeking independence from Ghana.

The separatist group on Friday dawn mounted road blocks on the Juapong–Accra and Sogakope–Accra main roads to express their agitations resulting in the death of one person and the injuries of a few.

Speaking on this issue at the party’s press conference at the Alisa Hotel, the General Secretary of the NPP, John Boadu stated: “NPP condemns this action. Such developments are very shameful and unacceptable especially in a democratic country. The historical account shows clearly that these proponents who make the claims have not gotten their facts correctly at all. Violence and attacks will not be an acceptable approach. We join voices with all meaning Ghanaians to condemn this action. We call on all political parties in Ghana to support efforts by government”.

He added that as a country we must never joke with things that border on our security. Meanwhile, the party commended the security services for their swift action in dealing with the Western Togoland group. “The security forces to do more in order not to encourage anybody to engage in this heinous crime”, John Boadu added.

The Volta Separatist group, Homeland Study Group Foundation (HSGF) has over the past few years sought to gain independence from Ghana.

On Friday, armed men demanding the secession of Western Togoland from Ghana blockaded major entry points to the Volta region of Ghana.

A previous unsuccessful attempt to declare Western Togoland independent from Ghana took place in 2017. In March 2020, around 80 members of the separatist group were detained for protesting the arrest of seven leaders of the Homeland Study Group Foundation. The charges were later dropped.

By: Alberta Dorcas N D Armah

[5:05 PM, 9/28/2020] Alberta GMABC: Why Ghana must not laugh off Western Togoland secessionist movement-Security expert reveals

Security Expert, Adib Sani, has brought to light the need to take the issue of Western Togoland secessionist movement very seriously as he lists a number of factors why the state cannot take it for a ‘joke’.

Speaking to Samuel Eshun on the Happy Morning Show, he divulged that the history of secessionist groups on the continent shows that these groups were not taken seriously until greater harm was done.

“When Boko Haram started, people were laughing at them. President Goodluck Jonathan did not manage the issue well. That is why now it poses such a big monster and a threat not only to Nigeria but the whole West African sub-region. When the Ambazonia in Cameroon started, they thought it was a joke. It was the same with the Katangese secession in Congo”, he said.

Adib Sani warned, “If we don’t take this seriously and downplay it, worst-case scenario,we would have a warfare situation; a war between the state and a south state or a downtown state. It is the most difficult war to win.

Commenting on the strength of the Western Togoland separatist group, he noted: “They can engage in cross-border activities including the proliferation of more arms, perhaps explosives. They understand the terrain better than we do”.

The Volta Separatist group, Homeland Study Group Foundation (HSGF) has over the past few years sought to gain independence from Ghana.

The HSGF on Friday mounted roadblocks on the Juapong–Accra and Sogakope–Accra main roads.

The group, led by 83-year-old Charles Kormi Kudzordzi, has been championing an agenda to declare parts of the Volta and the Oti regions a sovereign state, with the name ‘Western Togoland’.

On November 16, 2019, the leader, with about 100 people in attendance at Moleme in Ho, unlawfully declared the Volta Region as a sovereign state of Western Togoland.