Ashanti and the Northern Territories and for a Partition Commission to divide assets and liabilities of the Gold Coast among its component territories" Crucially, the Asanteman Council endorsed this call for partition by requesting that the United Kingdom take all necessary steps to grant separate independence for Asante and the Northern Territories on 6 March 1957. Opposition members bragged that they retained the services of lawyers in London to draw up the necessary legal documents for secession, apply for membership of the United Nations and plans were underway to build a £500,000 House of Parliament in Ashanti. The CPP was well aware that NLM were only seeking to delay the transition to independence and although it stuck to its guns on the powers on regional assemblies, it compromised on issues relating to future amendments to the Ghana Constitution in the full knowledge that a sovereign and elected national parliament could reverse them, if they were deemed unworkable after independence. So it was that the "Ghana (Constitution) Order in Council", 1957 was agreed. Independence: 6 March 1957 At midnight on 5/6 March 1957, on the Polo Ground in Accra, Nkrumah proclaimed the Independence of Ghana, To cries of FREEDOM! FREEDOM! FREEDOM! from the huge crowd the British flag was lowered, and the red, green gold flag of Ghana was raised in its place. It was the climax of the CPP's epic campaign to bring colonial rule to an end. The party's first objective, the battle for political freedom had been won, without resort to arms. In the words of Nkrumah on that historic night: "At long last the battle has ended. And thus Ghana, your beloved country is free for ever." But there would be further battles in the years ahead to build a new Ghana and to achieve Pan- African objectives. The struggle for economic independence and social justice was only just beginning. Continued threats to national security Even after independence, the NLM continued with violence in Kumasi and there was evidence of arms smuggling across the border from Ivory Coast to western Asante. Over 5,000 people originally living in Ashanti had been exiled as result of the NLM's violence. While preparations for independence were underway, supporters of the Togoland Congress were busy setting up military training camps in Alavanyo as part of a plot of violent disturbances with elements of the NLM The police moved in to dismantle the