The Chiefs and people of Asebu in the Central Region say they will defy any attempt to stop them from climaxing their Apayem Kese festival this weekend which will also honour former president JA Kufuor. There are speculations the Central Regional Coordinating Council intends to stop the festivities for security reasons. But Chairman of the Publicity Committee of the festival, Kinsley Kofi Karikari Bondzie claims it is a deliberate ploy to stop them from honouring former President Kufuor for his contribution to the development of the area. He said the agent provocateurs had tried to mobilize people from the area to disrupt the ceremony to honour Mr Kufuor but failed and were now resorting to desperate measures. “There is nothing like security threat in the traditional area; the main reason is that they don’t understand why we are honouring president Kufuor and they are reading politics into it and we don’t like that. We are honouring [Kufuor] because of the [good work] he did for Ghana,” he stated. Mr Karikari said the entire Asebu area was “united behind our paramount chief to make sure this festival becomes a success so we can gather some funds into our education fund to help the young and up and coming ones.” But the Abura Asebu Kwamankese District Chief Executive, William Atta-Mends said it is not true there were no security concerns in the area. He told Joy News there are security concerns and that the situation is being closely monitored. He said there had been press conferences and counter-press conferences which had generated some tension. The DCE said a report on the security situation had been submitted to the Regional Security Committee for action, insisting he was not aware that former president Kufuor would be attending a programme in his jurisdiction.