Police arrest 18 suspected Western Togoland separatists in Bimbilla
Police in the Northern Region has arrested 18 persons suspected to be members of the Western Togoland separatist movement.
The arrest followed intelligence gathered by the police that some members of the alleged separatist group from Kpassa were holding a meeting in a primary school in Bimbila.
The said meeting was allegedly focused on the aim of recruiting some youth to assist in their secessionist activities.
A team made up of military and police personnel were deployed to the scene to arrest them.
All eighteen suspects were put before the Yendi Circuit court today, Monday and have since been remanded into prison custody.
They are to reappear on January 9, 2020.
The decision by the court presided over by His Lordship, Anthony Aduku Aidoo to allow the prosecution to properly charge the suspects.
But Lawyer for the accused Alidu Rauf is hopeful his clients would be granted bail on the adjourned date.
The Homeland Study Group Foundation on November 16, 2019, declared its secession from Ghana on their official social media handles.
This was after the group had held a meeting in Ho.
The 85-year-old leader of the group, while addressing his members in the native Ewe language, recounted their struggles to restore the independence of the pre-independence Western Togoland territory, a German protectorate.
The area joined the then Gold Coast to form the newly independent country, Ghana on March 6, 1957, under circumstances he believes were ”illegal”.
With the omission of roads in the Volta Region from the critical roads list in the 2020 budget, Papa Hogbedetor said ” We’ve all witnessed what happened recently when we (Volta Region) were forgotten by the government in its budget. Can a parent forget about their children? We’re not their children, so they have forgotten about us.”
He then went ahead to declare the ’Western Togo Land’ independent saying “from midnight of November 16, 2019, entering into Sunday, November 17, 2019, we’re now Western Togoland state.”
Arrest and Bail
Following the declaration of independence, 17 people were arrested for their alleged connection with a Millita training in the Hohoe municipality of the Volta Region.
The 66 Artillery Regiment based in Ho, the Counter-Terrorism Unit of the Ghana Police Service, the Defence Intelligence (DI) and the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service Accra all conducted two separate Counter Insurgency Operations within the Hohoe Municipality of the Volta Region to foil the activities of the Western Togoland Secessionist.
Fifteen out of the 17 members arrested have been granted bail by the police.