A former officer of the Ganaian army, Nana Amon Ndoufou is the most important Akan monarch in the Ivory Coast. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, four Anyi clans crossed the Komoé River and settled in Krinjabo. The chief of the first clan was immediately enthroned king of Sanwi because the Akan could not conceive of human society without a king. He is more than a symbol.; he is the soul of his people, the father of his subjects. His person is sacred and inviolable. The king identifies with long departed ancestors; that is why he is called “Nana” or “Nanan,” which means “elder” or “wise man.” Whatever his age, this sacred king is called “Nana” by all his subjects, even including elderly men, because he is ageless and therefor the eldest. His enthronement has connected him with all the generations of long-lost kings protecting him. He is the traditional chief, but he is not the supreme judge. He governs jointly with his war chiefs and provincial heads, the Asafohene. The Akan state is pyramidal in structure with the king at the apex, followed by the Asafohene and finally the village chiefs. In the event of open conflict, the Asafohene address a solemn warning to the king. If he fails to heed it, he is deposed. In Sanwi, this process has led to the dethronement of several monarchs; in the powerful Ashanti Confederacy, three kings were deposed in this way. In fact, an Akan king was even accused of sorcery and found guilty, and a similar fate befell Boa Koassi I, the king of the Ndenye.