Businessman, Mr Akwasi Addai, aka Odike, will today appear before the Royal Court of the Asantehemaa located in the Manhyia Palace over his alleged invoking of curses on the chief of Asokwa and the Metropolitan Chief Executive of Kumasi.
The court, the second most powerful in the Asante traditional set up, after that of the Asantehene, will sit in full to determine whether Odike, who was the presidential candidate of the United Front Party (UFP) in the 2012 presidential election, is guilty of invoking the Ashanti deity, Antoa Nyamaa, to invoke the curses.
A source at the Asantehemaa�s Court told the Daily Graphic yesterday that if found guilty, Odike would be referred to the Nsumankwaahene (Head of all the shrines in Ashanti), Baffour Asabere Kogyawoasu Ababio lll, for further action.
The Nsumankwaahene will determine the fines to be imposed on the businessman and also take Odike through the necessary rituals to cleanse him and propitiate the gods.
The invocation of deities to curse people is prohibited in Ashanti and all persons who fail to abide by the ban are made to face severe punishment by the traditional authorities.
On Friday, November 22, 2013, Odike, while protesting against the demolition of a project he was undertaking at Asokwa in Kumasi, stormed the palace of the Asokwahene, Nana Fe-Baamoah II, with Schnapps and invoked Antoa Nyamaa to curse the chief for the demolition of the project.
The businessman also invoked similar curses on Mr Kojo Bonsu, the Chief Executive of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA).
The KMA, through its Public Relations Officer (PRO), Mr Godwin Okumah Nyame, explained that the project had been demolished because Odike did not secure a building permit.
Apart from that, the site was a right of way which had been reserved for the future expansion of the Kumasi eastern bypass.
But Odike dismissed the assertion, saying that he had bought the land from the chief and did not see why the project should be demolished.
He said even though he was a Christian, he decided to invoke the deity, since he felt so cheated to allow those responsible for the destruction to go scot-free.
The Asokwahene, who traditionally serves the Asantehemaa, reported the matter to the Asante Queen, leading to the summons.
<<Print>>