“Death awaits me tonight…” – ‘Sakawa boy’ weeps after missing his daily rituals

On April 1, 2024, 4:40 AM

Since the beginning of time, many individuals have resorted to several unconventional means in their desperate quest to break out of financial hardships.

While some adopt these means to afford daily meals for themselves and their families, others do so to acquire unimaginable wealth in the shortest possible time.

In today’s society, the affluent wield so much power and influence.

A young person who rises to the top among his peers suddenly becomes ‘the Lord and master’.

And so the youth desperately seek riches, even at the expense of selling their souls to the devil, only to realise their mistake when the angel of death appears at the door of their homes to snap out their breath with a scythe.

‘A feast is made for laughter, And wine makes merry, But money answers everything,’ the good old book, the Bible, says in Ecclesiastes 10:19.

But to borrow the words of Paul in one of his epistles to Timothy in the Bible, ‘For the love of money is the root of all evil, which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows’.

Such is the story of a 25-year-old man, Jayden (not his real name), who turned to money rituals to escape poverty.

The young man, who describes himself as a ‘game boy’ (online scammer) in a desperate attempt for redemption, took to the anonymous platform, Jodel, to share how his desire to make wealth sent him on a highway to hell.

For a brief moment, he felt relieved as strangers swarmed to encourage him to fight for life.

The online scammer said he fraudulently earned about $50 from his ‘clients’, but the amount was paltry for his living expenses.

This left him struggling and frustrated.

Like other seasoned ‘game boys’, he confided in a friend who introduced him to a shrine in a secluded forest in August 2020 in a bid to earn huge money.

After guiding them through various rituals at the shrine, the spiritual master gave directions on what to do.

He instructed Jayden to insert strands of his hair into the mouth of a snake at a specific time at night on a daily basis after returning home.

This ritual was the beginning of his good fortune, as he started swimming in cash.

“Three years ago, I went somewhere with my friend to get something to give us money. I have never been broke since,” he narrated.

He made enough money, moved into a fully furnished, luxurious apartment in a plush neighbourhood, and acquired the latest, most expensive, and top-range flashy cars.

Jayden left his family in the dark, and so they did not know his whereabouts as he continued his lavish lifestyle in Accra.

He was on top of the world; the struggling days were over, and then he erred.

One day, he forgot to put his hair in the mouth of the snake’s head, as ordered by his spiritual grandmaster.

“Within the three-year space, this is the third time I have violated the time of the ritual, and I can’t find the thing,” he said in sorrow.

“He (spiritualist) said if the thing disappears, I should know I will go off soon. I wasn’t able to follow a particular rule, and I know death will come for me soon. I don’t know if I will wake up tomorrow.”

Following his narration, concerned netizens suggested to him that he should go back to the grandmaster to renew his contract with him.

The panicking ‘game boy’ revealed he could not contact him.

He added that the friend, who was the only one who knew the exact location of the priest’s shrine, had died in an accident two years prior.

“My friend died right in front of me and in my arms at the hospital,” Jayden said.

It is now too late for Jayden.

In Christopher Marlowe’s Elizabethan tragedy play Dr. Faustus, the protagonist, a necromancer, signs a contract in his own blood to live for 24 years, at which point Lucifer will claim his body and soul.

Jayden might now have signed the same deal, but just a year after turning 24, he is afraid he will not witness the following day because of a money ritual pact with a spiritualist.

A community of young people coming together to help a stranger

At this point, other users touched by the young man’s plight quickly offered various solutions to keep him alive.

Some poured words of encouragement, while others asked for his location so they could go to assist.

One said, “I will show you a place to go; your soul may be redeemed. It is an altar of God.”

“It is well. It’s never too late. Seek a powerful man of God and commit to prayer. Salvation is not for the righteous but for you, so tap into it,” another chimed.

Sensing his time was up, he offered to give his properties to any of the strangers online who were interested.

“You guys should never rush for this money thing. I’m only 25. Please be content with whatever you have. If I could go back three years, I would tell my young self not to rush in looking for money, no matter what.

“I want to wake up alive. That’s my only wish now,” he posted on the platform.

Subsequently, he complained of being choked and went dead silent without any posts again.