Anambra Govt to Acquire Okija Shrine
From Charles Onyekamuo in Awka
Anambra State government yesterday said it was going to acquire for developmental purpose the Ogwugwu forest in Okija which houses shrines where over 50 dead bodies and 30 human skulls were discovered by the police in a raid last week.
The plan by the government followed allegation by a member of the House of Representatives representing Ihiala federal constituency, Mr. Chuma Nzeribe, that Governor Chris Ngige actually visited the shrine to swear to an oath of allegiance to his political godfather, Chris Uba. The state government, however, dismissed Nzeribe's claims.
In a statement entitled: "Okija Shrine, The Last Vestiges of Bad Governance," signed and circulated to journalists by Ngige's Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mr. Fred Chukwuelobe, the Anambra State government said it had read insinuations embedded in the reports regarding the recent police raids and destruction of the various shrines at Okija and the arrest of the priests.
The state government expressed its support for the action by the police and said it represented the removal of the last vestiges of bad governance and inglorious era in the state.
"We also know that for some people, it represents a loss of one of their veritable tools of fraud, 419 and their unrepentant manipulation of the faint-hearted and ignorant members of the various communities in Anambra State and Igboland in general as can be evidenced by the tango between Hon. Chuma Nzeribe and the late Chief Victor Okafor, alias Ezego in 1997.
"For people like the erstwhile boss of the defunct Bakassi Boys, Hon. Chuma Nzeribe and his co-travellers, it also represents a big loss as the arrested chief priests and the shrine represent the last hope of their foothold to foment trouble in the state and for Governor Chris Ngige.
"The government of Anambra State sees the development as a good riddance to bad rubbish and at the appropriate time, government will come out with a proposal for the acquisition of the said large expanse of forest land which the shrines had occupied for various government projects," the statement said. He added that, "Anambra people know who the real patrons of the shrine are and the likes of Hon. Nzeribe are only diverting attention with the hope of escaping the doomsday."
Early yesterday, however, a former Special Adviser, (Special Duties) to erstwhile Governor, Chinwoke Mbadinuju, Elder Cyra Obi who hails from Uli in Ihiala council area of Anambra State, said Nzeribe's testimony of Ngige's visit to the Okija shrines prior to becoming Anambra State governor was biased and borne out of a selfish political motive designed to destabilise the government.
According to Obi, who is also a member of Anambra State Security Committee, the reports credited to Nzeribe to the effect that he and Ngige's impeached deputy, Okey Udeh, Dr. Okey Odunze and Senator Ikechukwu Abana drove to the shrine in the early hours of the night where the governor allegedly took an oath before the chief priest of Ogwugwu was false and should be disregarded.
Nzeribe had in the report said he refused to enter into the shrine with Ngige because of age old rivalry between his hometown, Ihiala and Okija as well as his Christian values, and that Ngige told him afterwards that the chief priest was speaking in tongues.
Obi said that he was not surprised at Nzeribe's testimony stating that he had known him to have held the former governor, Dr. Chinwoke Mbadinuju, hostage.
Nzeribe, he said, was supposed to be the one to be questioned having come from Ihiala, an indication that he knows, like every other indigene of the area, about the Ogwugwu Okija shrine long before Ngige became governor.
He said Nzeribe had an ulterior motive aimed at sacking the state government through creation of public disaffection. "How can somebody from Idemili local government area come to Ihiala and be telling him about the Ogwugwu in his back yard? He is a liar and should be discountenanced."
He also dismissed suggestions that the Anambra State government instigated the raid of the Ogwugwu shrines in Okija.
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