Leader of self-styled 'African tribe' in Scottish Borders 'sung national anthem for MPs in Westminster'

Kofi Offeh, 36, from Ghana, now goes by the name "King Atehene" and camps in an area of woodland near Jedburgh which he and two others claim to be the lost "Kingdom of Kubala".

The group has attracted worldwide media attention and gathered millions of views on TikTok with posts documenting their lives and their ongoing battle with Scottish authorities who have been trying to evict them.

They allege the land belonged to their ancestors despite the lack of any widely accepted historical evidence supporting that claim.

Some of the videos show Mr Offeh sitting on a chair while the two women with him clean his hair, cook for him and fix a crown on his head.

But in the latest bizarre twist in this story LBC has learned how he was previously invited to perform at a forum on the Parliamentary estate attended by politicians and other London mayoral candidates while trying to make his name as an opera singer in 2015.

He reportedly sung the national anthems of both the United Kingdom and Ghana at the event at Portcullis House discussing relations with his home country.

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Photos on the 'Ghana Society' website and on X appear to show him singing in front of a podium and posing for photos with other attendees including the former MP Kelvin Hopkins.

A post on the site stated: "The discussion centred on how the UK can collaborate with Ghana to foster longstanding ties.

"Panellists comprising publishers, economists and politicians used the floor to explore how Ghana’s mineral wealth, manpower and expertise can be partnered with the UK."

The event seemingly took place while Mr. Offeh was still trying to forge a career in the music industry as an artist going by the name of 'Nino'.

His old @ninomusiq X account is tagged in photos from the night and links to a page for the now dissolved Black British Entertainment networking agency of which Companies House lists him as a Director.

The earliest videos on the 'KINGDOM OF KUBALA' YouTube account also show him singing and speaking under the 'Nino' name.

Other images from the Westminster event show Labour MP and former Minister Gareth Thomas and Policy Consultant Tom Chance in attendance, who were vying for the position ultimately won by Sadiq Khan.

Journalist and former mayoral candidate, Christian Wolmar, was also there.

Speaking to LBC, he said: "I do remember being invited to a rather strange event in one of the rooms in Portcullis House which adjoins Parliament... and it was a little bit strange.

"We were not quite sure why we were there."As far as I can remember, it was a kind of standard parliamentary event with I think some musical performance and a relatively small attendance of people in aid of... promoting Ghana.

"Attendance was fairly thin... I think that people who were more important than me clearly didn't bother to turn up."

When asked what we made of Mr. Offeh's new life as "King Athene", Wolmar said "good luck to him in trying to prove his Scottish ancestry."

And in an exclusive interview with LBC, Mr. Offeh himself claimed: "There was a time when I sang the song which I was told to sing in order to be here. It was a journey, just like my ancestor, King David. He used to sing for King Saul. But when the day came, he had to put away his music and become the ruler of Great Britain. 

"I am following his footsteps. I have come... the king of Scotland.

"I still sing...opera, classical music. We also sing our chants, Kubala songs."

Last week Sheriff Officers arrived at his woodland camp to remove his group from the site where they'd spent several weeks.

He and his wife Jean Gasho, 43, who calls herself Queen Nandi, as well as Kaura Talor, an American woman who had been reported missing in Texas and now calls herself Handmaiden Asnat, moved over a fence to another spot of land just 20 foot away. 

They've now been served a second eviction notice and officers expect to try and remove the group again soon.

The Deputy Leader of the Scottish Borders Council Scott Hamilton said earlier this week: "We're obviously very relieved to get the news that we had been granted the eviction order.

"So obviously we're looking to execute that in an appropriate manner. I think we have to be aware of what happened last time, where they moved simply to another piece of land. So we're obviously looking at this in a much more coordinated effort. They are clever and they know what they're doing."

But Mr Offeh told us he had no plans to move: "They (officials) are ignorant. If they know the history of this land they should come and bow before me.

"We are a small kingdom, but very powerful. The historians (you speak of) are the ones who go on Wikipedia."