Western Togolanders vow to declare ‘independence’ on Thursday, May 9 despite arrests

The Volta Region-based Homeland Study Group Foundation (HSGF), which is agitating for the restoration of the Western Togoland as an independent state, says it is not perturbed by the arrest of its chairman and seven other leaders by police.

The Foundation warned that whatever they had planned to carry out on Thursday, May 9 will happen despite the arrest of their members.

A combined team of police and military on Sunday arrested eight leaders of the group.

They were planning to declare independence on Thursday, May 9.

The eight, led by chairman Charles Kormi Kudzodzi, also known as Papavi Hogbedetor, an octogenarian, were picked up in the regional capital of Ho and airlifted to Accra.

This is the second time members of the group have been arrested in a similar fashion.

The Secretary to the Ho Branch of the group, George Nyakpo, in an interview with Onua FM’s Yen Sempa hosted by Bright Asempa on Tuesday warned that “if they think by arresting some of our people will collapse our agenda, that agenda would have died and gone because we started several years ago”.

“They are trying to wave their powers over us. We have been calling for a sit-down to discuss the issue. We wrote the letter to various governments of Ghana and the current letter went to the current president and the letter was specific,” he revealed.

“We are not perturbed about the arrest. What we will do on the 9th of May is yet to be decided but on the 9th is in the hand of God because he is the Creator.”

Will their actions bring chaos in Ghana?

Mr. Nyakpo said the group is not planning any chaos in Ghana because if they had wanted to, there would have been chaos on Sunday when their Chairman and some members were arrested.

“We are not thinking of chaos in Ghana. If we want to be violent, by now, Ghana would have been in violence.”

The Secretary said “our demands are in the interest of Ghana. It is not in the interest of Ghana for successive governments to continue neglect of our calls because we are prepared to die for Western Togoland”.

“Man dies once so if anything happens, then we should blame it on the leaders of this nation,” he warned.