When the Elephants go down, all eyes turn to Akradio. This village of 15,000 Adioukrou inhabitants is a long way from the stadiums of the African Cup of Nations (AFCON), near Dabou, an hour's asphalted road and half an hour's dirt track from Abidjan. But it is home to a community of witch doctors who are believed to have a considerable influence on football scores.
After Equatorial Guinea's humiliating 4-0 defeat against Côte d'Ivoire on Monday, January 22, it didn't take long for disappointed fans to attribute the loss to the Akradio witch doctors. Rioting broke out in the village even before the end of the match, with residents taking supposed witch doctors to task, soon followed by a fire, images of which made the rounds on social media.
One of the videos shows a mound of wood being burnt at the entrance to the village, in front of an agitated crowd, while the man filming comments ironically: "Bravo my village, I'm proud of you, Akradio. Unfortunately, they sold the match! Look, they're burning down [a] lady's house. She hijacked the match. She's not alone, is she!" A report then circulated on WhatsApp groups, attributed to the police district chief, who claims to have been sent to Akradio on Monday evening by the Dabou gendarmerie commander.
"An old woman aged 70, named Amélie Tuo Lath, is said to have mystically sold the Côte d'Ivoire match, resulting in the heavy defeat of our national team," it said in the report. "This provoked the anger of the villagers, who set fire to her house." Again according to the report, the police and gendarmerie quickly calmed the situation, with only a small amount of material damage. The woman in question was found by the gendarmes "in the neighboring village" and admitted to them "that she was behind the defeat of the Côte d'Ivoire national team."
In Akradio, where two gendarmerie trucks were still parked on Tuesday afternoon, the authorities refused to make any statement. The village chief, who was in France during the unrest, has promised to hold a press conference to report on the findings of the ongoing gendarmerie investigation.
For the time being, resident chief Victor Latt just kept denying the false information targeting the community. "The lady they caught was not hiding in the neighboring village," he said, with a sigh. "It was me who called the gendarmes and we went to find her at her in-laws' home, 3 kilometers from Akradio. And it wasn't her house they burnt down. It was the apatam [an open kiosk] of another resident, who was selling food there." Latt made no secret of his weariness at seeing the name of his village circulating all over the Ivorian Web, often accompanied by insults and threats.
During this interview, he received a call from the gendarmerie commander, who advised him to watch a video that had gone viral, adding to the confusion online. It showed an old man in a loincloth, presenting himself as the spokesman for the people of Akradio, reading a communiqué to a small gathering.
"We, the people of Akradio," he says "recommend with the utmost energy to the spirits acknowledging that they have played against Côte d'Ivoire to take all steps to put things right, by getting the Elephants through to the last 16, and then winning AFCON 2024." He went on to name the two witch doctors supposedly in favor of the Ivorian team's victory, but also the five supposedly hostile. Some internet users were furious – and so were the village authorities – but others found the situation hilarious.
The Akradio witch doctors have also been given much credit for Côte d'Ivoire's two AFCON wins. Members of the Fédération Ivoirienne de Football (FIF) and René Diby, the minister of sport at the time, himself a native of this sub-prefecture, revealed that the national team had performed a ritual in Akradio in 1992, with witch doctors described by the minister as "psychological trainers." The scene was also recounted by ex-international Didier Otokoré in his autobiography Les Confidences d'un Eléphant ("The Secrets of an Elephant") published in early January. The Ivorian team went on to win the final against Ghana after a legendary penalty shoot-out (11-10).
However, the spiritual sports idyll didn't last. An argument broke out between Akradio and Diby, who refused to pay the fees incurred. In retaliation, the sorcerers are said to have caused the Elephants to fail at all subsequent AFCON finals. This belief is tenacious and persists. Frenchman Hervé Renard, newly appointed coach of the national team in 2014, was quick to pay his respects to Akradio, before adding a second star to the Côte d'Ivoire jersey in 2015. They once again won on penalties against Ghana.
Akradio's witch doctors are alternately hated and adored, depending on the Elephants' glories and setbacks. But why, this time, would they want their own country to lose? Here, the story takes a political turn.
Minister Delegate for Sport Adjé Silas Metch hails from the district where Akradio and Dabou are located, as does Emmanuel Esmel Essis, who holds the portfolio for investment promotion and private sector development. Rumors have it that Esmel Essis has his sights set on Metch's post, going so far as to accuse him of having paid the Akradio witch doctors to bring about the national team's downfall and, by the same token, his disgrace.
As for Metch, he too seems greatly embarrassed by the affair. "I've always been saddened by this embarrassing publicity for my village," he told the Ivorian press on Monday, this "fabulous publicity that denies all competence to the coach, the players and the federation, but above all to the players who are on the pitch." However, the minister delegate conveniently forgot his November 23 visit to the neighboring village of Bonn, where he had solicited "the spiritual support" of the population to "win the trophy" and assured that he knew "the strength of the Adioukrou people."
With Morocco's victory over Zambia on Wednesday evening, Côte d'Ivoire went through to the Round of 16 at the last minute, and the jubilant fans momentarily forgave the Akradio witch doctors. Now they're waiting to find out what fate they have in store for the Elephants when they meet Senegal next Monday.
Translation of an original article published in French on lemonde.fr; the publisher may only be liable for the French version.