PETITION AGAINST WA NAA'S ENSKINMENT DISMISSED (PAGE 20, FEB 3, 2010)

The JUDICIAL committee of the Upper West Regional House of Chiefs has dismissed a petition filed against the enskinment of Naa Fuseini Seidu Pelpuo as Wa Naa.
The three-member committee, which had the Nandom Naa, Naa Dr Chiire Puobe Chir, as the Chairman, with Kuoro Doctawie Ninia II, Zini Kuoro and Kuoro Alhaji Iddrisu Bamie, Lambussie Kuoro as members, also fined the petitioners GH¢1,000.
The Gbetore Naa, Alhaji Issah Bukari, Mr Bomison Seidu Hamidu and the Sing Naa, Naa Mumuni Saaka, who were the petitioners, said Naa Pelpuo, who was elected and enskinned as the new Wa Naa on January 27, 2007, was ineligible for the position.
They questioned the validity of the nomination, election, enskinment and the introduction of Naa Fuseini Seidu Pelpuo, the then Selle Naa, as the new Wa Naa.
In its rulings, the committee held that the petitioners had failed to adduce fresh evidence, the basis of which they filed a motion on notice asking the committee to hold onto its judgement.
The committee said the petitioners failed to tender in a letter purported to have been written by one Alhaji Iddrisu Seidu Froko, the head of the Froko family of Wa, questioning the legitimacy of Naa Pelpuo to the throne.
It said the committee refused to allow Mr Daudi Abdulai Froko to tender the letter on the ground that he was not the author, since the original author of the letter was alive.
The committee said Alhaji Seidu Froko was never called by the petitioners to testify, while no reasons were given by the petitioners for his inability to do so even though he had been put down as a witness by the petitioners.
According to the committee, after studying the affidavits in support of the motion and that of the defendants, as well as listening to the submissions of the lawyers of the parties, it had no option but to dismiss the motion.
“With respect, the committee is of the opinion that its decision of September 18, 2008 not to allow Daudi Abdulai Froko to tender Alhaji Iddrisu Froko’s letter while Alhaji Froko was available as a witness was not a per incuriam decision,” it stated.
The committee quoted section 26 of the Chieftaincy Act, which empowered the Regional House of Chiefs to preside over matters relating to a paramount stool or skin or the occupancy of a paramount stool or skin including a queen to a paramount stool or skin.
“The Wa chieftaincy matter is a paramount skin of which the present cause of the matter before the committee was about the validity of the nomination, election, enskinment and outdooring of the third defendant as the occupant of the Wa paramount skin.
“The jurisdiction of this committee was therefore properly invoked by the petitioners when they filed their petition at the registry of the committee on January 22, 2007,” it said.
The committee added that the correct remedy of the petitioners, when they disagreed with the decision of the committee not to allow Daudi Abdulai Froko to tender Alhaji Iddrisu Seidu Froko’s letter, was for them to appeal to the National House of Chiefs within 30 days as stipulated under section 3:3 of the Chieftaincy Act of 2008.
“The petitioners having failed to appeal within the time permitted by the rules of the court are stopped from reopening the matter at this late hour,” the committee stated, adding that “it is for this reason that the committee has decided to dismiss the motion. The motion is accordingly dismissed as incurably belated”.
The committee also asked the defendants to recover cost of GH¢1,000 from the petitioners.
It would be recalled that there had been series of litigation over the rightful occupant of the Wa Naa’s skin since the death of the late Wa Naa, Naa Alhaji Yakubu Soale Seidu II about four years ago.
Subsequently, Naa Fuseini Seidu Pelpuo was nominated, elected and enskinned by the kingmakers in 2007 to succeed the late chief, but that was contested by the three petitioners.