Leave my stool if you are not bold to defend me – Otumfuo to his chiefs

The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, has sent a direct message to all his chiefs, urging them to vacate their seats if they cannot stand up to fight for and defend the kingdom.

He said that if none of his chiefs can stand in the gap for the Asante kingdom, then they undermine the sacrifices that were made by their forbearers.

“If you cannot fight for Asanteman, please vacate the seat for those who can. If you cannot sacrifice like our forefathers, then you don’t deserve the seat.

“The reason why the government created the new regions especially, Ahafo and Bono East is to expand development, it doesn’t mean if you are under the Asante Kingdom you have become autonomous, you still serve the Golden Stool (Sikadwa),” he said.

Otumfuo Osei Tutu II made this known while speaking at the first Council Meeting in the Ashanti regional capital, Kumasi.

The Asantehene did not mince words when he stated emphatically that the Asante Kingdom has not forced any of its subjects to serve the Golden Stool, adding that it is rather a rare privilege and honour for anyone to be considered a subject to the Golden Stool.

Background

Oseadeeyo Agyemang Badu II, in a viral Facebook video sighted by GhanaWeb, stated that history has been distorted by the Asante’s to suit their interest.

He said, some chiefs in Ghana talk as if they are greater than the Almighty God but “nobody is greater than God.” Going into history, Oseadeeyo Agyemang Badu II said, in the year 1640, the then chief of Akwamu, Ansa Sasraku, was going about saying when he dies, none of the twins of his sister can succeed him; this continued for a while till he died and it happened that there was confusion among the citizenry.

Dormaahene said, amid the confusion, the people of Kumawu took over some territories across the country and even extended to Côte d’Ivoire but “when they got to present-day Asante, that territory was under the Denkyirahene. Today they have an appellation as ‘asante kotoko kum apem a apem beba’ [if you kill thousand, thousand will come] but do you know that of the people of Bono, theirs is ‘abono kyen apem’ [Bonos are more than thousand]”

Oseadeeyo Agyemang Badu II explained, “this means that, when we got to Denkyira, Dormaahene had his territory; so the two were not fighting each other, our brothers from Asante – they were a group of people who had come together – but they broke away from Ntim Gyakari…and decided to fight the people of Dormaa because they were defeated six times…

“…We beheaded their chief and his head is still with the people of Dormaa…it took the people of Dormaa 250 years before they came to settle at Dormaahenkro but no chief was able to defeat the chief of Dormaa, because you don’t read your history you don’t know.

“You have fallen for the history that Okomfo Anokye planted a tree both in Asante and Kumawu and because the tree died that is why the place is called Kumawu; that is a lie. When we talk about Kumasi, it means that they were labourers. When we got to the place known as Asante today, the people of Kumasi were under Denkyira and they were responsible for getting Denkyirahene firewood that is ‘akuma ase’ but today, because of their population, they have changed it. It means ‘akuma ase hene’ and not Kum. If you are a chief and you are brilliant and you know the law, people are afraid of you…,” Dormaahene stressed.