Okija Shrine, An Indictment on Our Justice System - Ex-commissioner
From Charles Onyekamuo in Awka
A former commissioner for Women Affairs in the administration of Dr. Chinwoke Mbadinuju of Anambra State, Chief (Mrs.) Bridget Obi, yesterday blamed the existence and sustenance of the Ogwugwu deity in Okija, Ihiala Local Government area of the state over the years on the failure of Nigeria's justice system and administration.
Obi, an indigene of Okija, who addressed newsmen in Awka, reasoned that since people patronised the deity before the raid by the police last week in search of "justice," it then follows that something is wrong with our justice system.
She said since the agencies of our justice system administration like the police and the judiciary have proved over the years to be deficient and unprotective of the weak, it could be urged that people who occupy positions in these organisations and the agencies themselves, have constituted themselves into "evil forest" plaguing the Nigerian society because they have allegedly made the system unworkable.
"You see, in this country, people don't get justice. The people who go there (Ogwugwu shrines) say they go in search of justice only for the priests to work on their psychology with all the gory stories therefrom. If that is the case, it means that they have absolutely lost confidence in our justice system," she added.
Obi pointed out that the Okija shrine is replicated all over the country in one way or the other, noting that a religious law that provides for the stoning of an adulterous woman in present day Nigeria is equally barbaric and has assumed the status of an "arusi" (deity) in metting instant justice.
According to her, "evil forest" otherwise called Ogwugwu forest to her does not kill but that a few people behind it have become mischievous and expressed worries that Okija community is being painted in lurid colours.
She argued that since the shrine was registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) in Abuja, it has become a company in which the Ndukwu family from Umulu Okija its managing director and directors are in a business of demand and supply situation. "Those people are justices of death, and people who want others dead go there. There are many evil forests in Nigeira. The police that kill innocent people in the street for not parting with N20, and others like the contractors who get millions of naira for jobs they didn't execute are also the evil forests within," she said, adding that "those who loot our treasury and create capital flight out of the country are also the evil among us."
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