Tuobodomhene Kidnapped�From Court Premises In �Rambo Style�

Drama unfolded at the Wenchi High Court yesterday, when some unidentified heavily built men alighted from a white Ford bus with registration number AW 2873 Z, and in Rambo style, kidnapped the Chief of Tuobodom, Nana Asare Baffour II. Reports reaching The Chronicle on Saturday indicate that court proceedings were interrupted when Nana Asare Baffour was heard screaming outside the courtroom, �Bee Kumioo bee kumioo�, to wit they are killing me, they are killing me. The man bearing the Chief�s umbrella was said to have disappeared into thin air, to save this life. The Tuobodomhene, Nana Asare Baffour II, is alleged to have made an assassination attempt on the Techimanhene in October of 2008, after which the matter was reported to the police. An eye-witness, who was at the court, told the Chronicle on Saturday, minutes after the incident, that Nana Asare Baafuor had just left the Wenchi High Courtroom on yesterday, where he is seeking a restraining order against one Thomas Opoku, said to be developing a property on a piece of land at Tuobodom, which the chief claims belongs to the traditional authority, when the white Ford bus suddenly pulled up. According to the eye-witness, two heavily built men jumped out from the bus, and bundled the chief into it and drove away to the Techimanhene�s palace. The eye-witness continued that a plainclothes police officer who attempted to intervene was rebuffed by the angry machomen. The drama compelled the sitting judge to postpone proceedings for the day. He later asked a Sunyani-based lawyer and the Court�s Registrar to make a formal complaint to the police. Before this incident, Nana Asare Baffour had issued a statement calling on President Evans Atta Mills to intervene in a matter, in which four of his subjects have been arrested and remanded in police custody, in connection with the alleged assassination attempt, and allegedly cautioned that failure could result in bloodshed. Speaking to the press in his palace, Nana Baffour recounted the incident which happened in 1996, which led to the burning of 45 houses, including the Omanhene�s Palace, leading to the death of three innocent persons. The said fight erupted when the late Asantehene, Otumfuo Opoku Ware, elevated the Tuobodom stool to paramountcy. According to him, on October 8, 2008, there was another shooting incident on the outskirts of Tuobodom, when the Techiman Omanhene was on his way to Tuobodom to join another faction of the Tuobodom stool affairs, to celebrate the Fofie festival.