No Show At Antoa Between Odike, KMA Boss

There was no show at the famous town of Antoa in the Ashanti Region Monday, as the much-anticipated reversal of a curse pronounced on the Kumasi Metropolitan Chief Executive, Mr Kojo Bonsu, by politician cum businessman, Mr Akwasi Addae, aka Odike, failed to come off. Consequently, scores of people who were said to have travelled from Kumasi and other parts of the region to Antoa in the Kwabre District to witness the event left disappointed. The rituals would have seen Odike carry an earthenware pot and paraded through the streets of the town barefooted, with women hooting at him. He would also have gone to the riverside to spiritually wash and cleanse himself of any punishment that would have come over him as a result of invoking the deity. The entire process for the reversal of the curse appeared to have been entangled in confusion and the Daily Graphic learnt from a source at the Asantehemaa's Palace yesterday that the chiefs would decide the next line of action. While Odike had said he was ready to go to Antoa to perform the rituals, Mr Bonsu, through his spokesman, insisted that he would never submit himself for the performance because he had done nothing wrong. Just before press time yesterday, the Spokesman for Mr Bonsu, Mr Samuel Gyamfi, told the Daily Graphic on phone from Kumasi: "The mayor would want to state categorically that he is not going anywhere and will not render an apology to anyone because he has not offended anyone." Background Late last year, Odike invoked the dreaded Asante deity, Antoa Nyamaa, on Mr Bonsu and the Chief of Asokwa, a suburb of Kumasi, Nana Fe-Baamoah II, over a disputed piece of land. Odike, who claimed to have paid a sum of money to the chief to secure the land for the establishment of a private vehicle testing centre, had just started developing the site when the KMA moved in to demolish it. Consequently, the businessman stormed the palace of the chief with eggs and a bottle of Schnapps to invoke Antoa Nyamaa to curse Mr Bonsu and the chief. Since the act of invoking curses is prohibited in Asanteman, the matter went before the Asantehemaa's court, where it was decided that Odike reverse the curse at Antoa yesterday. Odike speaks Speaking to the Daily Graphic on phone from Kumasi, Odike said he had gone to the Asantehemaa's Palace at Manhyia yesterday morning ready for the green light from the chiefs to go to Antoa, but since Mr Bonsu failed to turn up, the event was cancelled. However, a source at the palace said Mr Bonsu was not under compulsion to attend the reversal of the curse at Antoa. It said once Odike was the one who invoked the curse, the onus lay on him to go and reverse it to avoid the repercussions.