A 20-year-old American woman who had been a member of a self‑styled African “kingdom” that has camped in Scottish woods was cursed on video by the group’s leader months before she died after being struck by vehicles in Oklahoma City, newly unearthed footage and family accounts show.
Footage recorded in the United Kingdom shows Kofi Offeh, who styles himself “King Atehene,” telling A’liya Johnson, who had adopted the name Lady Safi while with the group, that she would “cry until she dies” after she demanded to leave and demanded the return of her phone. The video was taken when the group’s base was a flat in Stockton‑on‑Tees in County Durham in 2023.
Johnson flew from Oklahoma to Britain in March 2023 and joined the group, which is led by Offeh, 42, and Zimbabwean Jean Gasho, who calls herself Queen Nandi. Family members said Johnson, who they said struggled with mental health issues, quickly took the name Lady Safi, wore what the group described as tribal clothing and painted her face. Gasho posted a photograph appearing to show Johnson cradling her abdomen and hailed the arrival of a “royal baby.”
Video released by reporters shows a confrontation in which Johnson — using her birth name and insisting she would not “come begging” the leader — asked to leave. Offeh, addressing her as a former handmaiden, responded: “We are done,” and said, “If this doesn’t happen then there is no God in Kubala,” before adding the curse that she would “cry until she dies.”
In January 2024, months after she left the group and returned to Oklahoma, Johnson was struck by a car and then by a bus in Oklahoma City and died, according to accounts cited by her family and contemporaneous news reports. The circumstances of the collisions are under the authority of local U.S. officials; reporters who reviewed the footage and spoke with family members described the sequence of events as occurring soon after she departed the group in Britain.
The trio behind the Kingdom of Kubala later established a new encampment in woods near Jedburgh, Roxburghshire, in May 2024, living in tents behind an industrial estate. Landowners David and Mary Palmer sought their removal, and at a short hearing at Jedburgh Sheriff Court a sheriff granted an order for “immediate extraction” of the occupiers and awarded expenses to cover the costs of sheriff officers. Sheriff Peter Patterson said in court, “I am happy to grant decree forcing the eviction from the property.”
The group did not attend the hearing and was informed of the decision by journalists who visited the camp. Offeh said at the encampment that they did not recognise the authority of the court, telling reporters: “We do not believe that any authority owns the land. The Earth belongs to the father.” He added that the group was “not afraid” of the eviction order or of imprisonment and said, “If we must go, the creator will find us another place to go.”
The leadership presents itself as part of a lost African dynasty and Offeh has described himself in social posts and interviews as a messianic figure. Gasho, who uses the title Queen Nandi, and Offeh were accompanied at various times by young women who have been called handmaidens or concubines in the group’s online material.
Concerns for the welfare of a more recent recruit have compounded scrutiny of the encampment. Kaura Taylor, 21, an American from Texas who also adopted the name Lady Safi after joining the group, was reported missing by her family. Her mother, Melba Whitehead, told reporters that the group “is crazy” and that her daughter had left family and community to join them. Family members and local authorities have made public appeals for information about Taylor’s whereabouts and welfare.
Legal representatives for the landowners, including lawyer Conner McConnell, filed the action seeking removal of the unauthorised occupiers from the woods known as Darnic Parklands. The eviction order requires the trio to vacate the private land; officers and sheriff officials retain authority to enforce the decree if the occupiers do not leave voluntarily.
Officials in Scotland have said enforcement actions will proceed under the court order. In the United States, the circumstances of Johnson’s death have been recorded in local incident reports. Reporting on the group’s activities and the footage of the confrontation has renewed questions among family members and local officials about the recruitment and care of vulnerable people who travel to join fringe groups abroad.