BY Issah Olegor
The planned celebration of the 2025 Igbo New Yam Festival in Accra has been halted following a directive from the Ga Mantse, King Tackie Teiko Tsuru II, and the Ga Traditional Council.
The development has stirred fresh debate over cultural coexistence, traditional authority, and community relations in the capital.
Ga Traditional Council Raises Alarm
The festival, led by the Igbo community in Ghana under the authority of their traditional leader, Eze Dr. Ambassador Chukwudi Jude Ihenetu, was scheduled to take place on Sunday, September 21, 2025, at the Efua Sutherland Children’s Park in Accra.
However, the Ga Traditional Council expressed strong reservations about the event, warning that it posed a potential threat to peace and security within the Ga State.
In a formal communication dated September 19, 2025, addressed to the Regional Commander of the Ghana Police Service, the Council cautioned against allowing the celebration to proceed.
The Registrar of the Council, Evelyn Amewotse, who signed the letter on behalf of the Ga Mantse, stated that the Igbo leader had already been cautioned in July to desist from organizing such cultural festivities within the Ga State.
According to the Council, the proposed festival amounted to “importing Igbo customs into the Ga State” under the guise of cultural celebration, a move they feared could “possibly cause mayhem and disturbance of peace and security within the Ga State.”
The Ga Mantse, therefore, instructed law enforcement authorities, including the Ministries Divisional Police Command, the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, and the Ministry of Interior, to ensure that the festival did not take place.
Petition Against Igbo Cultural Activities
The Council’s position was reinforced by a petition from Dr. Hassan Ayariga, founder of the All People’s Congress (APC), who formally raised concerns with the Ga Mantse over the activities of the Igbo leadership in Ghana.
In his petition, Dr. Ayariga reportedly urged the Ga Mantse to intervene and prevent what he described as cultural encroachment.
This meeting between Dr. Ayariga and Nii Tackie Teiko Tsuru II, which preceded the suspension directive, underscored the mounting unease within sections of the Ga community regarding the increasing visibility of the Igbo community’s cultural activities in Accra.
Igbo Leadership Responds
In response to the controversy, Eze Dr. Chukwudi Jude Ihenetu, the Igbo leader in Ghana, issued an official statement clarifying the status of the festival.
He explained that the event had already been postponed weeks earlier due to “unforeseen circumstances beyond our immediate control.”
He dismissed as false and misleading the circulation of old flyers and invitations suggesting that the festival was still on schedule.
According to him, the material being shared online was originally released three months ago and had been deliberately recycled by unnamed individuals “to create confusion and mayhem.”
Eze Ihenetu urged the Igbo community and the general public to rely only on official communication from his office and to disregard unauthorized publications.
He stressed that the Igbo New Yam Festival, which is central to the cultural identity of Ndi Igbo, would be celebrated at a later date in consultation with stakeholders and with full respect for the laws and traditions.
Background
The Igbo New Yam Festival, celebrated annually in Nigeria and across the Igbo diaspora, marks the end of the farming season and the beginning of harvest. It is a time of thanksgiving, feasting, and cultural display.
In Ghana, the Igbo community has, for several years, organized the festival as a way of preserving their heritage and uniting the diaspora.
However, the decision to hold large-scale public versions of the festival in Accra has repeatedly drawn mixed reactions.
While some view it as a celebration of multiculturalism, others within the Ga community see it as a direct encroachment on Ga traditions, particularly since Accra remains the traditional homeland of the Ga people.
