Battor-Aveyime Residents Jubilate Over Release of Alleged Togoland Militants

There was a joyful atmosphere in the evening of Wednesday, March 17, 2021, when scores of residents including some chiefs and traditional office holders of Battor and Aveyime Traditional Area in the North Tongu District of the Volta Region hit the principal streets to jubilate.

The jubilation followed the release of the three innocent persons, Mr. David Gabianu, Mr. Williams Tsikata, and Mr. Duho David among the militants of Homeland Study Group Foundation (HSGF) and Western Togoland Restoration Front (WTRF), who were unlawfully arrested on Saturday, March 6, 2021.

It would be recalled that Togoland secessionist groups were arrested in the connection of blocking roads and burning STC buses and launched an attack on the Mepe and Aveyime Police stations in the North Tongu District.

The Volta ‘Rebels’ who were arrested are currently facing multiple charges of treason felony, conspiracy, rioting with weapons, stealing, and participating in a meeting of the prohibited group among others the huge chunk of inmates (secessionists).

The suspects are among a group of people who allegedly stormed the Aveyime and Mepe police stations in the Volta Region, overpowered police officers, and made away with weapons, ammunition, a police patrol vehicle, and other personal effects.

However, David Gabianu, Williams Tsikata, and Duho David were released from the cells of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) in Accra on Wednesday March 17, 2021.

Their release was after the swift intervention of the North District Chief Executive (DCE), who doubles as the Chairman of District Security Council (DISEC), Mr. Collins Arku, Commander of Aveyime Divisional Police Command, and North Tongu District Bureau of the National Investigations Officer.

The three state regulatory personalities who are in charge of human security in the area were reported to have vehemently resisted the arrested of Mr. David Gabianu, Mr. Williams Tsikata, and Mr. Duho David as the Togoland secessionist groups.

The DCE was said to have stated that the real recruited into the so-called Military wing of the Western Togoland Secessionist groups who committed the crime at Mepe, Battor, Ho, Aveyime, and Juapong were on the run.

He maintained that the police officers and soldiers who came to effect the arrest from Aflao acted on the blatant lies by the accusers of David Gabianu, Williams Tsikata, and Duho David since they are not the real Togoland secessionist groups who committed the crime.

This has informed the decision of the leadership of Bureau of the National Investigations to release the three from the cell in Accra, amidst jubilation in the area.

The DCE in an interview cautioned against the continuous habit of some individuals who ought to be reporting some innocent persons to the police as members of the suspected Togoland secessionists.

According to the DCE, their intelligence gathering corroborated with information from some key stakeholders within the district indicates that some individuals had found of reporting some innocent personalities to the police to be arrested as the Volta rebel groups because of their personal misunderstanding with those persons.

He emphasized that those people individuals must be warned: "Because this is the national security issue so we must be careful of giving information about someone who is not part of the Togoland secessionist groups who had committed the crimes."

 "This habit is completely not good for our peaceful coexistence in the area, because the real suspects of Volta Rebels who committed the heinous crimes that very day, we had the intelligence that those who were not arrested are now on the run.

"...so why should someone else report individuals who are always seen every day in their place of abodes after the incident of the Volta militants to the police again to be arrested even without our knowledge," the DCE stated.

Mr. Arku expressed worry about the situation and warned that those given this misinformation about the people as the Volta rebel groups should stop those behaviors.

The DCE fumed that their actions and inactions were rather creating insecurity, fear, and panic within the district.