….What Really happened…
By Philip Antoh
The legacy of Ghana’s most flamboyant religious icon, the late Professor Emeritus Apostle Kwadwo Safo, has descended into a bloody family feud that has left his daughter former Dome-Kwabenya MP Sarah Adwoa Safo with a gunshot wound to her ear and a nation asking: how did a spiritual empire become a battlefield?
The shooting that erupted on Sunday, June 21, 2026, at Kwabenya was not a random act of violence. It was the explosive culmination of a bitter succession dispute that has been festering since the founder’s death on September 11, 2025. And at the centre of it all is a coronation that never should have happened or so one side claims.
According to Adwoa Safo’s family, she was simply trying to serve court injunction papers to halt the installation of her brother, Israel Kwadwo Safo (alias Akofena), as their father’s successor. After previous attempts to serve the papers had failed, she personally drove to the residence, expecting a legal procedure. Instead, she walked into a hail of bullets.
The family alleges that Israel Safo fired multiple shots about 15 rounds in total at his sister, instructing armed guards to shoot at her vehicle. Her car was left riddled with bullet holes. She was treated for a gunshot wound to her left ear and is reportedly in stable condition.
But the Kristo Asafo Church has painted a radically different picture. Counsel for the church, Nana Kofi Kantanka, told JoyNews that Adwoa Safo was the aggressor. He claimed that when she was denied entry through the southern gate, she crashed her car into it before moving to the northern gate and repeating the action.
“The information I got was that she fired the first shot and then banged the gate with her car. The private security gave warning shots,” Kantanka stated, adding that he could not confirm whether she was wounded. He insisted she would have been allowed in had she followed normal procedures.
The Ghana Police Service has since arrested six private security guards in connection with the shooting. Officers from the National Operations and Intelligence Directorates responded to a distress call and recovered five pump-action guns, a loaded Taurus pistol, an additional magazine, and communication equipment.
The police have launched a manhunt for other suspects as investigations continue at Police Headquarters. But the question remains: who fired the first shot, and why?
The Safo family feud has been an open secret for months, but the violence marks a dangerous escalation. The Kristo Asafo Movement, founded by the late Prof. Kwadwo Safo, was built on a promise of spiritual and technological advancement. The founder, a charismatic figure who claimed divine guidance for his inventions, left behind a sprawling empire that includes schools, a university, and a thriving religious following.
But with great legacy comes great conflict. The battle over succession has pitted siblings against each other, exposing the fragility of institutions built around a single, dominant figure.
Adwoa Safo, a prominent politician and former MP, is no stranger to controversy. Her political career has been marked by highs and lows, but this is the first time she has found herself in the crosshairs of a family war. The shooting has drawn widespread condemnation, with many calling for a swift and thorough investigation.
For the Kristo Asafo Church, the incident is a public relations nightmare. The once-peaceful transition of power has collapsed into a public spectacle, with accusations flying in all directions. The church’s reputation, carefully cultivated over decades, now hangs in the balance.
As police investigate, the family feud shows no signs of abating. The court injunction remains unresolved, and the installation of Israel Safo as the new leader is mired in controversy. The real question is: who will emerge victorious from this battle and at what cost?
For Adwoa Safo, the answer is personal. She has survived a bullet, but the scars both physical and emotionalwill take much longer to heal.
The Safo family feud is a cautionary tale of what happens when wealth, power, and legacy collide. The late Prof. Kwadwo Safo built an empire on his own terms, but he failed to prepare his successors for the inevitable power struggle. Now, his children are locked in a bitter war that threatens to tear apart everything he built.
The conflicting accounts of the shooting only deepen the mystery. Was Adwoa Safo ambushed, or was she the aggressor? The truth lies somewhere in between, but the damage is already done.
For the Kristo Asafo Movement, the path forward is uncertain. The church must decide how to handle the succession dispute, and whether it can survive the infighting. One thing is certain: the legacy of Prof. Kwadwo Safo will never be the same.