THE PEOPLE OF AKPOSSO & AKPOSSOKUBI

THE AKPOSO OR AKPOSOKUBI

(With the chief of Akpossokubi and his Otsiame)

The people of Akposo speak Ikposo. They were the first inhabitants of the Oti Region as it is believed.  Their original name is the Ayade people. Ayade means “children of God.” They migrated from Ancient Abyssimia presently Addis-Ababa through Sudan, Ile-Ife to the then Togoland and with time, they got to their present settlement in Ghana.

During their migration, they rode camels till they got to their present settlement. They passed by the Ewes to Ghana thus, the Ewes called them those who ride the camels “Akpɔ ɔsɔ” which gradually came to replace their original name Ayade after the Ewes got to Ghana. The Ewes continued to refer to them as Anyigbatowo meaning “the owners of the land” as they are believed to be the first inhabitants of the Oti and Volta Areas. Akposso history continues that the Guans and the other tribes came to meet them.

Furthermore, a Buem hunter called Ojamante from Buem-Guaman went for hunting and whiles hunting, he met a small group of Akans within their areas. He quickly went to draw the attention of their chief and the chief of the Akposso traditional area. These Akans explained their plight and they were handed over to the Akposso people who gave them lands to settle on. The Akans settled with the Akposso people. 

As the Buems handed the Akans to the Akposso people, they said “Akposso kube bi” meaning “Akposso and its children.” Akpossokubebi became another name for the Akposso and it was gradually corrupted to Akpossokubi. The Akans settled among the Akposso people and they lived in peace with each other. Akpossokubi was the paramouncy for the Guan, Akposso and Akan lands.

Later, the Akans of Tepa-Amanya and Tepa-Abotoase continued from the Nkonya settlement and joined the Buems likewise the Worawora; but these Akans (Tapa and Worawora) are very different from the Akans of Akpossokubi. It happened that during the Nkrumah regime, the Akposso people were in the support of UP (now NPP) and not CPP (Kwame Nkrumah’s party). CPP later won and Nkrumah became the president of Ghana. Akposso people continued that Kwame Nkrumah raised hell on them. Most of them were detained in prisons in  Ho and Hohoe claiming that they were Togolese and not Ghanaians.

Most foreign organisations came to the aid of the Akposso. Kwame Nkrumah repatriated the Ikposso language speakers to Togo without doing same to the Akans of Akpossokubi. Other groups of the Akposso were kept in prisons. Foreigners who came to the aid of the Akposso people would include his Excellency the late President Silvanus Olympio of Togo who challenged Nkrumah with a simple fact that the then Volta Region was a German-Togoland which was later brought under British rule when the French in alliance with the British fought the Germans to take control over the Togoland hence establishing the British Togoland.

So then President Silvanus Olympio’s argument was that how could Dr. Kwame Nkrumah possibly repatriate an ethnic group from a Togoland to Togo since Togoland means it is a land of the Togo people and not Ghana. Nkrumah saw reason in the arguments being raised so he released those in prisons but this time, the Akans of Akpossokubi were empowered over the original Akposso people who speak the Ikposso language.

The Akposso people began to resettle with a whole lot of them repatriated to Togo. At one Akposso community which was then called Kaboaza meaning “Kabo’s village,” it was virtually empty. The Akans took over but then the Akpossos began to resettle and other settlers came in and the place was renamed Alefe meaning “new town.” The Akans have changed the name of Akpossokubi to Apesokubi because the hard “kp” sound does not exist in their language. Now the Akposso people in Togo continue to trace their origin to Ghana till date.

Other Akposso lands like Kpleso and Katanga have now been dominated by Akans. Asukawkaw is claimed to be part of the Ntrubo territory but then Asukawkaw has Old Asukawkaw community which is dominated by Ikposso speakers.

Some Akans claim Katanga is a corruption of “Kantinka people” meaning they fought the Akposso people and claimed their lands but then there is no historical record of that. Kpleso comes from Ikposso which is “Yen kpile so?” to mean “won’t you raise it and see?”

The Akpossokubi traditional area has five rivers which all have their names in the Ikposso language and not in Akan. They are the

1.     Dekpe bɛ - Dekpe was an Akposso man who established his settlement by a river leading to Worawora hence Dekpebɛ meaning Dekpe’s river

2.     Ikpa bɛ - Ikpa bɛ means river of crabs

3.     Ewele bɛ - River of kings

4.     Bɛ na – River with stones

5.     Kabo – fetch in abundance

These rivers have no Akan equivalent thus, it proves that the community is originally for the Ikposso speakers and not to the Akans as supposed. In Ghana, they celebrate the Ovazu festival likewise in Togo but in Togo, it is spelt as Ovazou. They have four main clans namely Akpa, Anama, Ikueto and Imunade. The main Akposso communities are Kabu, Oklabe, Alefe, Nyilesi and Akpossokubi with Old Asukawkaw and Kpleso being Annexes. The Akposso community Kabu was named after the Kabo River.

Oklabe simply means Okla’s river. He was an Akposso man who established his settlement by a river. The Akposso town of Nylesi came from the Ikposso language “Nyilɛ sɛ mu” meaning “uncle, establish your settlement up there.”

There is currently unrest between the Akposso and the Akans of Akpossokubi as there are efforts to wipe out the Ikposso language, culture and tradition. In somewhere 2011 when Alevle Okitikpo III, the paramount chief of Akpossokubi traditional area was celebrating the Ovazu festival, he was attacked and shot by the Akans with the claims he has no right to celebrate the Ovazu festival. His car was burnt and most of the Akposso people were attacked.

The Ikposso language spoken by the Akposso people have dialects and they are Logbo, Ama, Iviu, Ewi and Ikponu. Ikposso language is part of the Ghana-Togo Mountain group of languages and it looks like a variant of Ewe although it is not Ewe. It is also good to note that Akposso are part of the Guan congress of Ghana.

 

COMMON COURTESY IN IKPOSSO

ƆSꜪGA	INUAVI	WORD	RESPONSE
Ꜫdɔ ɔbuɛ ɛ?	Nidɔ ɔbuɛ!	How are you?	I am fine!
Ꜫza a?	Ni za!	How are you?	I am fine!
Ivu a!	Ivu a!	Good morning!	Good morning!
Adiɛ avo?	Adiɛ	(mandatory greeting after saying Ivɔ a)
Avɛlɛ a?	ɛɛ, na vɛlɛ
Izu a!	Izu a!	Good afternoon! Good evening!	Good afternoon! Good evening!
Ꜫfɛlɛ ɛ!	Ꜫfɛlɛ!	(mandatory greeting after saying Izɔ a)
Ewule ɛsɛ! Nakpagla kɛ!	Alakpɔ na dɔ!	Thank you!	Do not mention!
Na duiyɛ ɛga!		I beg you!
Yaa na sɛ oo!	Yoo!	Welcome!	Thank you!

 - Reference:

    Tetteh, H. 2021. Know Ghana Better (Premier Edition). Accra: 2021