Lightning Strike Claims Life of 19-Year-Old in Oti Region; Community Suspects Invocation of Thunder God Zakadza
A 19-year-old man, Justice Berina Komla from the Dodi-Kpomkpa community, met a tragic end on Friday, October 17, when a bolt of lightning struck him dead while uprooting a palm tree on a farmland in Dodi-Papase, Kadjebi District of Ghana’s Oti Region.
Eyewitnesses recounted a deafening thunderclap followed by frantic screams, rushing to find the young man motionless on the ground, his body charred from the strike.
As of Saturday afternoon, October 18, Justice’s remains lay untouched at the scene, bound by local customs prohibiting removal until traditional rites are completed. A local traditional leader, speaking anonymously to the Ghana News Agency (GNA), revealed the deceased was felling his third palm tree when the lightning hit.
“The thunderclap was unusually loud and frightening,” the leader noted, adding that the precision of the strike—targeting the isolated worker—has fueled suspicions beyond a mere storm.
Whispers in the community point to possible human intervention via Zakadza, the revered thunder deity of the Ewe and related ethnic groups in the Volta and Oti regions. Known as the “night crocodile” (from Ewe and Fon linguistic roots), Zakadza is a manifestation of the Yewe cult, akin to the Yoruba’s Shango or Norse Thor—a god of thunder invoked for justice against wrongdoers through rituals.
“There are suspicions that another resident might have invoked Zakadza to seek justice,” the traditional authority confided, prompting a delegation to consult a spiritualist for clarity on the death’s cause and required purification ceremonies.
This fatal incident, occurring amid Ghana’s rainy season when lightning claims lives annually—such as the June 2025 thunderstorm that killed four children in Sefwi Awaso—blends natural peril with spiritual interpretation in rural enclaves.
The Oti Region, carved from Volta in 2018 and home to diverse Guan, Ewe, and Akan groups, upholds such traditions where sudden deaths often trigger consultations to appease deities and avert communal calamity.
The Dodi-Papase community reels in shock and fear, with residents torn between grief and apprehension over potential curses. Calls for restraint echo as elders await the spiritualist’s verdict, while local authorities remain silent, leaving open the prospect of a police probe into what could be ruled an accident or something more arcane.
This tragedy reignites debates on harmonizing indigenous beliefs with modern science in Ghana’s heartland, where the line between heaven’s wrath and earthly vendetta blurs all too easily.
