A former ‘handmaiden’ of a self-proclaimed African tribe residing in a Scottish forest was cursed by its leader to ‘cry until she dies’ just months before her passing.
Recently discovered footage reveals Kofi Offeh, who refers to himself as King Atehene, making this ominous pronouncement about A’liya Johnson after she expressed her desire to leave the so-called Kingdom of Kubala.
At the time the tribe’s ‘kingdom’ was based in a flat in Stockton-on-Tees in County Durham.
In January of the previous year, just months after parting ways with the group, Ms. Johnson suffered a tragic fate in her hometown of Oklahoma City, USA, when she was struck by both a car and a bus.
The 20-year-old had flown to Britain in March 2023 to become a ‘concubine’ for King Atehene.
The 42-year-old from Ghana claims to be the messiah and leads his ‘tribe’ alongside Zimbabwean Jean Gasho, who calls herself Queen Nandi.
King Atehene and a new handmaiden have chosen a woodland existence in Jedburgh, Roxburghshire, since May, proclaiming to represent a forgotten African dynasty.
Ms. Johnson, who her family said ‘struggled with mental health issues,’ adopted the name Lady Safi after joining the tribe, embracing tribal attire and facial paint.
A’liya Johnson died in her home town of Oklahoma last year
She is even thought to have conceived a child with Offeh one month after arriving.
Gasho, 42, shared a photo of A’liya cradling her belly and hailed the ‘royal baby’ that the trio were expecting.
But just four months after her move to the UK, Ms Johnson
In defiance, she was recorded condemning the tribe as a ‘false reality.’ She insisted on using her birth name and demanded that the king and queen return her phone.
She shouted: ‘I have you blocked, so don’t think I’m going to come begging you.’
Offeh responded by saying: ‘We are done.’ Cursing her to ‘cry until she dies’, he adds: ‘If this doesn’t happen then there is no God in Kubala.’
The revelations about the tribe’s former handmaiden come amid growing concern for the welfare of her replacement, a 21-year-old American also called Lady Safi.
Kaura Taylor, from Texas, had been reported as missing by her family. Her loved ones have pleaded with her to return home.
Her mother, Melba Whitehead, told reporters: ‘This cult is crazy. They pose a threat to everyone around them.’
Celebrating the arrival of their new handmaiden last year, Gasho, wrote: ‘She told me she was ready to do anything for the vision and movement of the Northern Kingdom.’
She added: ‘She left her people in America, her family and all she’s ever known to become the second wife of Atehene.’ The trio were served an eviction notice demanding they leave their camp by last Monday, but they defied the court order.
Offeh said: ‘We do not believe that any authority owns the land. The Earth belongs to the father.’
In response, Sheriff Peter Patterson issued an ‘immediate extraction’ decree against the trio’s self-titled Kingdom of Kubala during a six-minute hearing at Jedburgh Sheriff Court on Friday. However, the defiant group are still in the woods.
Members of the so-called ‘Kingdom of Kubala’
The order demands they leave the private land, which is behind an industrial estate on the outskirts of the town.
During the hearing lawyer Conner McConnell, acting on behalf of landowners David and Mary Palmer, lodged an action for the ‘removal of the unauthorised occupiers’ from the woods known as Darnic Parklands.
Sheriff Patterson said: ‘I am happy to grant decree forcing the eviction from the property.’
The ruling included their ‘immediate extraction’ and the award of expenses against the tribe members to cover the costs of the sheriff officers. Offeh said the trio were ‘not afraid’ of the eviction order and ‘not scared of jail’.
Speaking at the encampment, where they have lived in nothing more than a few second-hand tents for a number of weeks, ‘King Atehene’ said: ‘The creator of the heavens and the Earth is the one with us.
‘And we are not afraid of whatever the court – the so-called court – has granted.’
News of the eviction decision had been relayed to the group, who were not represented in court, by journalists who went to their camp immediately after.
Mr Offeh said: ‘If we must go, the creator will find us another place to go.’
