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Shrines can’t kill -- Onitsha Chamber boss
ALPHONSUS NWEZE, Onitsha,
FELIX UKA, Awka and NKIRU OKEKE,
Enugu
AS
controversy rages on the potency or otherwise of the powers of shrines, opinion
leader and chairman, Anambra State Leaders of Thought, Chief G.B.C. Chukwuka,
has countered the notion that the Ogwugwu shrine in Okija has the
abilities to kill people.
According to him, the notion was being
arrogated to the deity by its adherents who employ psychology and subtle
intimidation to instil such fear in victims.
He stated this even as the former
Commissioner for Women Affairs in Anambra State, Mrs. Bridget Obi, said the raid
on the shrines in Okija where she hails from, will be an effort in futility
"unless the government agencies that should guarantee justice are seen to be
effective."
Chief Chukwuka, who is also the patron of
Onitsha Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ONICCIMA)
narrated an incident in 1996 concerning himself, his son and agents of the
deity, pointing out that their not being dead by now had revealed the falsehood
ascribed to the powers of the shrine.
According to him, his son, Obiora, had a
business misunderstanding with some unidentified people. Chief Chukwuka did not
disclose the exact nature of the misunderstanding.
The people, he added, approached and
reported the matter to the deity, following which two agents came to him (Chukwuka)
in Onitsha with a summon to appear at the shrine.
But, he asked them to wait, went into the
house, brought a machete and was to slice them into pieces when his wife held
him back.
According to Chief Chukwuka, he dropped
the cutlass, took a cane and gave them 30 strokes, warning them never to come
back again.
He said they were, however, defiant and
proceeded to his people in the village to serve him another summon and
unfortunately for them he was in the village.
Chief Chukwuka said he mobilised the
youths in the village, who beat them up, stripped them naked and took them to
another shrine in his village where they swore to an oath that they would never
come back again and that they had become slaves to the shrine.
After this, he said, the two agents were
handed over to the town’s vigilante group which escorted them out of the place.
He said that since that 1996 he has never
seen them or their letters while, neither him nor his son has died.
He, however, said he does not see anything
wrong in the shrines but that the younger generation has abused and bastardized
it for monetary gain.
Meanwhile, Ohanaeze Youth Council,
(OYC) has challenged the police to substantiate the allegation that Okija
shrines are enclaves for ritual killings.
In a statement signed by the
Secretary-General and the Director, Planning and Strategy, Messrs. Chuks Ibegbu
and Odoemena Nwamara respectively and made available to Daily Champion in
Enugu yesterday, the group demanded that autopsy be carried out on the bodies
recovered from the places to verify the causes of their death.
If the police failed to substantiate the
allegation, OYC threatened that Igbo youths would take appropriate measures to
seek redress for the desecration of their traditional religio-cultural values,
adding that "African culture is interwoven in myths, mysticism and mysteries and
no amount of Westernization, science or technology can undermine it."
The group, however, said if it is
discovered that the Okija shrines discoveries are the handiwork of ritual
murderers and mischief makers, the law should take its course.
"Though the police are yet to tell
Nigerians the circumstances that led to its discovery, we suspect that the raid
is an attempt to ridicule the traditional and cultural values of Ndigbo
more than an attempt to expose barbarism," OYC further stated.
In her comments on Okija shrine raid
yesterday, Mrs. Obi said at a news briefing in Awka that the said patronage of
the shrines was due to the alleged failure of government agency that should
grant justices to the poor and average Nigerians.
She said men in the 30 villages of Okija
community were running into forests because the police were indiscriminately
arresting them in the area.
"Though I don’t support the said acts of
barbarism in the shrines, I want all other evil forests to be destroyed in
Nigeria. The unfortunate development is as a result of failure of the government
agencies to give justice to Nigerians. So, people seek justice in the shrines,"
she stated.
She argued that "a court that cannot give
justice, a policeman that takes bribe, kill people in the name of accidental
discharge are all evil forests," if skulls of those killed by police are
excavated you will weep."
"All evil forests in Yoruba land, Hausa
and the Nigerian agencies should be raided to sustainably cleanse the Nigerian
society.
She dismissed the rumours that the
traditional ruler of the area, Igwe Obi Okezie died after negotiations on behalf
of Governor Chris Ngige on his (Ngige) exorcism from possible outcome of his (Ngige)
alleged oath taken at the shrine.
She explained that she was at the meeting the governor had
with the traditional ruler and that though the Igwe died that day’s night, it
had no connection with the meeting with the governor because he (Okezie) was not
asked to negotiate anything by the governor.
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