Sokode traditional authorities in the Ho Municipality have called to quickly investigate a violent clash between some students of the Sokode Senior High Technical School and some residents.
They also want a swift publishing of findings of the investigations to ensure the incident does not affect the academic calendar of the school which was indefinitely closed down on Sunday by the Volta Regional Security Council.
This was after a series of engagements with school authorities and community leaders.
“We are pleading with the police and other security bodies and ensure the school is opened in earnest for academic activities to resume”, said the Dutor of Sokode Traditional Area, Togbe Awee Japhet Amoako at a press encounter in Sokode Etoe.
He assured of the community’s readiness to provide the needed assistance to investigate the incidents and bring perpetrators to book.
He condemned the decision by some natives to engage in such violent clashes with students and emphasised the need for the community to identify the school as its property and protect it as such.
“We are not in support of the unfortunate incident. If students misbehave, you should report to the authorities for them to be punished, not to take things into your hands and engage in such violent acts”, he said.
The Secretary to the Council of Gborgame Chiefs, Godwin Ofori Avorsi, who equally condemned the incident denied reports in a section of the media that the youth were not directed by the Chiefs to mobilize and attack the students.
Addressing the media in Ho, he said, “Our attention is being drawn to all the flood rumours that are making the news headlines that this violence was under the instruction of the traditional leaders of Sokode Gborgame. We hereby refuse any claims or false rumours.”
He explained that the youth, who were dressed in war costumes chanting war songs and wielding weapons, had visited the campus on Sunday morning to report some students who engaged in a fight with some community members on Saturday night.
“The youth of Sokode Gborgame, who decided to match to the school and report the issue and inquire from the headmaster “Why all this?”. Upon the youth reaching the school premises, the youth were again attacked by the students with stones and all kinds of weapons”, he explained.
Background
According to an eyewitness account, the clash was triggered by a student being beaten by town folks after he was reported by a colleague, who he had a misunderstanding with.
This led to a clash between the students and town folks on Friday, 21st February 2025, at a popular food joint in the vicinity of the school, which spanned between 10 pm and 1 am on Saturday.
On Saturday, 22nd February 2025, there was another clash with community members at the Manacura Bar, a recreational centre.
A timely intervention by a joint military and police team foiled a bloody clash when town folks dressed in war costumes besieged the campus on the morning of Sunday 22nd February 2025.
There was a seeming stone war between the students and the community folks, with a journalist, Evand Aklangla being caught up in the heat of the clash, sustaining various degrees of injuries on the wrist, back and head.
The violent incident destroyed the properties of the school, staff, community members, and the Manacura Bar.
Indefinite closure of school
For fear of reprisal, and to protect life and property, the school was indefinitely closed down to ease tension, after a series of meetings between the Volta Regional Security Council, school authorities and community leaders.
This was announced by the Volta Regional Minister, James Gunu, who said the Regional Security Council took such a decision, to allow time to restore a cordial relationship between the students and community, to restore peace and unity.
“We want the environment for teaching and learning to be peaceful for both the students and the teachers. We want a situation where the community will see the school as their property so that they will not come and cause any damage. Then the students are also seen as their children so that they can both coexist”, he said.
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