Abaaade Slaps Agbalagba. Anlo Curses invoked

The CBO (Chief Boarding Officer) or Dining Hall prefect post in Presec is given to a student who can bring order in the dining hall. One such CBO in the 1978/79 year was late Vincent Markwei of Riis House aka Aaarisse or Abaaade. His towering presence and stern looks were enough to stop any intended mischief or misconduct in the dining hall. Abaaade’s reign as CBO is well remembered by the slapping incident involving Agbalagba a fellow sixth former. Agbalagba of Akro House was a loner. He had come from Mawuli School or Bishop Herman secondary school. He was believed to dabble in the occult and the beads and a spider tattoo on his left arm fueled and gave credence to this belief. He was not a likable guy and was the unfriendly type. He did not joke with his food and it was about this that led to the altercation with Abaaade. That evening, dinning was almost over when Agbalagba walked in improperly dressed and refused to leave when ordered by Abaaade. A shouting match ensured and Abaaade followed him to his table. Within minutes, things escalated and from nowhere shouts of ' shi e tueen' corrupted Ga phrase for slapping vibrated in the dining hall. Abaaade playing to the gallery slapped Agbalagba. Shouts of saayoooo thundered. Stunned with disbelief, Agbalagba turned the other cheek and dared Abaaade to repeat the assault. To the surprise of many, an enraged Abaaade repeated the dose. It was in bad taste. To humiliate a fellow classmate by giving him two Ashiaman police slaps in full glare of entire school was indefensible. Presecans are fair minded people so this slapping incident made many not only sympathize but go further to empathize with Agbalagba. After dinning, some sixth formers gathered by the bedside of Agbalagba to console him. Many saw him as poster boy of abuse of prefectorial authority. They urged him to report to the school authorities. He laughed at that suggestion but indicated that he will file a prerogative writ of Quo Warranto against Abaaade at the shrine of his fetish priestess auntie in Dahomey. He reminded those gathered of the Ewe proverb: Ne lo lolo ?uu hã la, azimevi ko wonye. (No matter how fat a crocodile is, it is still hatched from an egg). Very loaded proverb indeed. When Agbalagba sang GADZO the Anlo War song, three Owls flew in formation over Akro house just like British Harrier Jet fighters at the Gloucestershire annual air show. The invocation of curses that evening sent esoteric tremors all over and though the epicenter was Akro House, aftershocks were felt as far Nzemaland where Nyameke Ackah's grandma picked up the realignment of spiritual forces on Presec compound and sent him an invisible text message which he read from his sweaty palms.[ So Nzema guys had text messaging App far back as 1978?] OMG. Very typical of students, some saw Agbalagba’s posturing as mere grandstanding. " ibi fainting k3k3. He stand there they slap am finish now he dey sing hometown song? If he get pawa why he no fit stop the slaps?" To them the voodoo gimmickry was all brutum fulmen; an empty threat. Well-meaning peace brokers asked Abaaade to apologize but he refused. Over a decade after this incident and well into his professional career as Petroleum/ Chemical Engineer, Abaade began to have health issues. The African belief that all diseases and sicknesses are primarily spiritual is well documented. Superstitiously, some close friends who remembered this incident drew a linkage between Abaade's declining health and the curses invoked that night. This group, firm believers in ' no smoke without fire' could not convince the majority so tried independently to trace and track down Agbalagba for him to reverse the ‘curse’ but were unsuccessful. Why was this group bent on drawing a linkage between what happened years ago and Abaade's health? Take superstition away from the African and you strip him of his core belief. Eddiefico Akro House 76-83