One Week After Castro and Janet’s Disappearance: The Reality, Spiritually and The Mystery

Yesterday Sunday July 13, 2014 was exactly a week since popular hiplife artiste Castro was feared to have drowned in the Volta River at Ada, and any hope of his survival has faded by now. But in the spiritual realm, there are claims that Castro is alive!

The mysterious circumstances under which Castro and his female companion, Janet Bandu, went missing on the river have been the major talk on every imaginable social platform this week.

As a search party, led by the Marine Police and the Ghana Air Force, embarked on days of a mission on the lake to find Castro and Janet, dead or alive, the reality that may douse the hopes of the musician’s close friends camping at the Peace Holiday Resort at Ada Foah and many loved ones is that Castro has been swallowed by the water.

But some spiritualists have waded into the mystery surrounding the incident with claims that Castro is alive. Some traditional authorities from Ada were, however, reported to have performed rituals on the Ada Estuary to aid the search for the recovery of the bodies of Castro and his female companion.

Spiritual vision & mission
An Nsawam-based spiritualist, Mallam Djeta, claiming to have seen Castro alive in a vision, travelled a long distance from his base to Ada last Monday with a mission to reclaim the musician from the custody of the water spirits.

Mallam Djeta was reported in the Tuesday, June 8, 2014, issue of the Daily Graphic to have requested for permission to go and rescue the hiplife artiste.

His appearance at Ada might have inspired hope in many friends and loved ones of Castro, even those who do not believe in that spiritual orientation.

But any such hope might have fizzled out immediately, as the Mallam failed to produce Castro, dead or alive, after 50 minutes of chanting.
He had claimed that after 50 minutes if Castro was not found, the spirits that ‘arrested’ the hiplife musician would escort him deeper under the water.

But the spiritualist did not give up; he requested for a white ram to perform some rites to prevent the spirits from taking Castro deeper into the spiritual underworld.

The President of the Ghana Psychic and Traditional Healers Association, Torgbi Adenyo, told the Daily Graphic that he could not discount such spiritual claims because they were possible. He, however, noted that the families of Castro and Janet had to be involved and present before any spiritual rites could be performed to establish their fate.

Marine spirit
It is not known whether the white ram was provided, but nothing has since been heard from Mallam Djeta, as the bodies of Castro and Janet remained missing.

The absence of Mallam Djeta has not caused silence among spiritualists in respect of claims and rituals for the recovery of the bodies of Castro and Janet.

A woman purporting to be a marine spirit waded into the fray and left many fans of the hiplife musician even more confused.
The ‘marine spirit’, who identified herself as Dzifa Avaga, told Okay FM, an Accra-based radio station, that Castro was alive in the spiritual underworld.

“As I speak to you, I am a marine spirit; I exist because I made two people give birth to me. When I heard the (Castro’s) news on air, I wasn’t surprised because the authorities in the sea had already informed me that they were going to have a visitor.

“And that was the same moment I heard Castro’s story on radio. This made me believe that Castro had gone for a visit and was not dead as earlier reported,” she told the radio station.

She, however, cautioned that if the fans of the musician did not stop wailing and talking, the marine spirits would get angry and produce the body of Castro to them but not in the state they were praying for – dead.

Torgbi Adenyo confirmed that assertion to the Daily Graphic, saying the spirits did not like noise-making and that the mission by rescuers, with helicopters hovering on and boats traversing the river, was not in the interest of Castro’s safety.

Castro the gem
When Castro, known privately as Theophilus Tagoe, released his first hit album, it was rollicking, and there was no doubt that a music gem had emerged on the local scene with his secular orientation well established.

He followed up with other hit songs, all in the secular realm, drawing large crowds at musical shows across the country and winning more fans.

So when the Takoradi-born rapper, affectionately called ‘Castro under fire’ and ‘Castro the destroyer’ by his fans, released his Adoni album, urging all to offer their “collection”, many people thought Castro had strayed into the gospel realm.

But even in the seemingly new arena, he was still at his best – rollicking and frolicking!