By Innocent Akoma

Dr. Okhue Iboi is an Edo State-born trado-medical practitioner. In this interview, he speaks about the mystery surrounding his birth and works,

Can you let us briefly into your background and growing up?

My father, Jonah Iboi, was a farmer, hunter and a respected community leader. He migrated in the 1950s with his wives from his home town, Otuo in Owan East Local Government Area of Edo State to Okpe in Akoko Edo Local Government Area. Even with five wives, he had no child. So, he relocated in obedience to an Ifa divination that he should leave Otuo if he wished to have children. He adapted quickly to life in his new settlement where he was loved by his hosts for his kindness and open-mindedness. He went on with farming and hunting expedition until an event occurred that changed his life.

What  was this event?

Iboi

One day, he went on hunting with one of his friends. At a point, he heard the screaming of an animal in pain, it was a deer, he cocked his gun and aimed to fire at the animal, thinking that it was held by a trap. But he soon realized that it was not caught by a trap but it was on the verge of giving birth.

He stood amazed and confused on whether to kill the animal or leave it to have its birth peacefully. While he was still contemplating what to do, a voice came from the animal, urging him not to touch it if he still wished to have his own children. My father had the knowledge of herbs and magic, so he was not surprised at what he saw and heard from the animal, having immediately understood it all. So, he  left the animal. He kept the incident to himself until five months later when my mother, Alice, one of the five wives, became pregnant but the pregnancy lingered. Instead of the usual nine months, I spent 18 months in my mother’s womb.

Your mother eventually gave birth, how?

Of course, she gave birth naturally. On April 6, 1959, when I was born, I came from my mother’s womb with some mystic objects in my hands. I had fresh leaves in my hands, which was a prelude to what I am renowned for today as an herbalist.

Mysteriously at age two, I disappeared from my mother’s bed while we both slept at night and, for six months, there was no trace of me. My parents were scared, they sought spiritual intervention and the oracle confirmed that I was well and safe in the hands of my spiritual guardians, where I was understood to be undergoing spiritual purification and preparation for my earthly mission. The oracle directed my parents to always place my food daily at the place I was always eating in the house. They complied and the meals would disappear without them knowing who ate it. By the end of the sixth month, I was suddenly found lying beside my mother on the day I exactly clocked three years.

Beyond that, what happened? Did you go to school? How was it like going to school if you did?

I attended Ajama Primary School, Okpe. But it was difficult continuing with schooling. Whenever the teacher was in classroom, writing on board and teaching, what I always saw on the board were leaves, the whole board in my eyes will be covered with fresh leaves instead of what was written by the teacher. And anytime the school period was over, I will go into the bush to hunt for games even at that tender age and my guardian spirits will be showing me different kinds of leaves and their usage.

It’s like you took after your father. We heard that he had not  only the ability to      speak with and understand animals but to also interact with them. Is  this true?

Yes, he had the ability to command animals to do what he wanted and they obeyed him but that is not with me. I am versed in the knowledge of roots and leaves. I can speak to leaves. I understand them and they understand me. I know when to cut a leaf, how to cut it and what to say to it before I do the cutting in order to retain the potency.

Obviously, your father transferred his magical powers to you, is that it?

He didn’t. He had his own supernatural endowment, which is quite different from mine. I am gifted with different powers, considering the circumstances of my birth and growing up.

As one based in Lagos, how do you get the roots and herbs that are not commonly found in Lagos?

I travel often times because of that to my home town in Edo or go to nearby Ogun State to get them. In some cases, I will them to come on their own to me with the assistance of my guardian spirit.

Any special remarkable works in the past to point to?

There was this 38-year old woman, Mrs. Onome Chukwudi, who I helped to give  birth to a baby boy after 18 years of childless marriage. There is also one Mr. Okopi Aju, a successful businessman, I cured of stroke after some evil people afflicted him with the killer disease, I returned the stroke to where it came from. His testimoyny was captured by Lagos Weekend of Friday, May11, 2001, titled: “How God delivered me of stroke,” another one carried by Lagos Weekend on Friday, March 30, 2000, “How my kidney disease was cured.”

There was another woman I delivered, in 1987, of a cock after being pregnant for three years. After that traumatic experience of the woman, she has had children. Three years ago, Vanguard carried on its front page the story of one Abudu from Kogi State, who was afflicted with stroke and God got cured through me.

You keep mentioning God in your claims. How do you relate your power to God?

In all my dealings, I put God first, God the omnipresent and omniscience. I have no powers of my own. Without God’s power, I am nothing. God only uses me to set the captive free.

There was this man you were said to have cured of elephantiasis. How did it happen?

I was in my tender age then. I was moved by the plight of the young man who had suffered from elephantiasis for several years. People were avoiding him. The spirit of God just ministered to me to free him of his predicament and I walked up to him and asked him to go with me to the back of his house. At the foot of an Iroko tree, I asked him to sit down on top of one of roots that crossed the road path while I went into the bush to fetch some leaves. I applied the leaves on the affected leg and we both returned to his house and, within a short while, his travails were over, the elephantiasis was gone. There was also the case of a US-based deportee who wanted to return to America. He had tried severally to get the visa all to no avail. After consultation with my guardian spirit over his case and I did what I was asked to do, he returned to the embassy three weeks later and he was issued with the visa in 2010. When he returned to the country later, he told me that he had been given the green card. That is how it has been with me. I am born to help those who need it.