Tree bears 'voodoo' on Akufo-Addo

The area around the old Sem Cinema in Alajo, Accra was abuzz with a curious excitement on Thursday when a teenage space-to-space operator, Kwame Karikari discovered an eerie doodah tied to a tree.

Devout Christian Patience Nyarko asked her son, a devout Moslem, Amidu Hassan, 25, to climb the tree and investigate.

"I knew it was a juju thing because I see it a lot in football," said Hassan, a footballer, who works with the NHIS. "But, I started fasting today and so I had no fear. It was only after I brought it down and opened it that I saw tied inside it a piece of paper with the name Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo written on it. I've no doubt it was an evil spell against Akufo-Addo," said the man who said he has no serious political interest.

The juju object comprises what looks like a horse tail to which a horse tongue was tied, in which the paper with Akufo-Addo’s name was buried and fastened. The voodoo composite had salt, bird feathers, a corroded needle, two black stones, a white stone, and a rare wood, which according to some observers, is usually found in northern Ghana. Also tied to the dry horsetail was undigested food, which appeared to have been wrenched from the stomach of an animal.

Nana Akufo-Addo, frontrunner in the December 22 congress to choose the presidential candidate for the ruling New Patriotic Party has been a major target by his rivals both within the 17-man contest and outside the party.

Thursday, an intern with The Statesman, Sabina Sekyere accompanied Hassan to the campaign office of Akufo-Addo near Circle.

According to the reporter, the NPP aspirant, a Christian, said he did not believe any evil spirit could harm him and directed them to burn it.

He is scheduled to leave Accra at the weekend for the next leg of his national campaign tour.