Oberepong Nii Kojo Ababio V, the paramount chief of Ngleshie Alata and President of the James Town Traditional Council, has been dragged to the high court (Lands Division) over alleged indiscriminate land sale.
According to the plaintiff, Ben Nii Odartey Blankson Mills, the chief had resorted to selling parcels of land bequeathed to his (plaintiff’s) family in 1893.
Suing the chief for and on behalf of the Ablorh Mills family in Trom and Korley Gonno, the plaintiff also joined Nii Armah aka Sadam, a supposed land guard of Nii Kojo Ababio; Alhaji Theo and one Mr. Blow, a businessman, to the action.
Bright Akwetey of Akwetey & Associates, lawyer for the plaintiff wants the court to declare that the said land, measuring 1,267 acres, belongs to the late Joseph Ablorh Mills family.
The plaintiff requests the court to declare that Nii Kojo Ababio is not a member of the Joseph Ablorh Mills family and has no interest whatsoever in the lands of the family.
Lawyer Akwetey seeks an order declaring the sale of any portions of the plaintiff’s land – along the Korle Gonno Beach and Laterbiokorshie – and anywhere else in Accra, a nullity and of no legal effect.
The plaintiff, among others, also urge the court to issue an order directed at Theo and Mr. Blow to vacate the portions of the beach land purported to have been sold to them by Nii Kojo Ababio.
In his statement of claim, Mr Blankson Mills argued that the land became a family property after the death of Joseph Ablorh Mills in 1927, over which the family had exercised rights of ownership through successive heads of family over the years.
It said in the past five years, the family realized that Nii Kojo Ababio had adopted a habit of posing as the owner of the land in question and had been selling portions indiscriminately for his personal benefit.
Lawyer Akwetey further averred that entreaties to the James Town chief to stop the acts had failed, adding that the nefarious activity of the chief ought to be brought to an end to preserve the family property.
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