By Vincent Ujumadu

About the year 2002, Ogwugwu akpu, a dreaded shrine in Okija, Ihiala local government area of Anambra State, became very famous following its regular patronage by the high and mighty in society, particularly politicians. The said or alleged potency of the shrine located in the thick forest close to Ulasi River at Ubahuezike village of Okija, impressed its patrons who often testified that they were getting the desired results whenever they needed its assistance or intervention.

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However, after the euphoria between 2000 and 2010, human and vehicular traffic to sites of Okija shrine began to reduce drastically, such that the area has virtually become desolate.

But the people of Anambra State were taken aback when, in the last few years, a new wave of shrine patronage surfaced in all parts of the state. While Okija shrine became unpopular, similar shrines sprang up in other communities. In almost all the 179 communities in the state, hoisting red and white cloths on trees and dubbing them as shrines became prominent, with youths as the main targets. 

That was when such names as Akwa okuko tiwara aki from Oba, Eke Hit from Okija, Onyeze Jesus from Nkpor, among many others, began to control the social media where they claim to have the powers to make people rich. These new generation of native doctors influenced the youths so much, to the extent that they were claiming to posses the power to prepare  for their clients who were mostly youths, charms for escaping from security operatives while ferrying hard drugs or during kidnapping activities, and for making money through ritual killings. That was how Anambra and other South East states became insecure, with kidnapping taking place on daily basis.

Native doctors arrested

Worried by the poor image the activities of these native doctors were having on governance, Governor Chukwuma Soludo and the state House of Assembly stepped in with the Homeland Security Law. When the law came into effect in January this year, security operatives began to arrest the self acclaimed native doctors and, at the last count, about 40 of them are in detention. 

Specifically, they were arrested for using the social media to promote ostentatious lifestyles and criminal activities which have negative influence on the youths, by making them believe that success could only be achieved through fraudulent means, including internet scams and ritual practices. That was how the native doctors became the most well-known persons in the communities, even where there are respected people. Interestingly, the arrested native doctors couldn’t use their charms to escape from detention and many of the youths they prepared charms for are cooling off in many cells abroad. 

Addressing the issue, the state governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo said: “The native doctors who are operating the shrines are the root cause of insecurity in the society today. They make you believe that they can make charms for you and you get a crown without a cross. They celebrate success without hard work. They have ruined a lot of our young boys. They make youths believe they can prepare charms for them, and they will carry drugs abroad and will not be detected. You carry the drug and you entered the airport and the white man’s scanner would go blind and you would go with your drug.

“Because of this deceit, many of our young people have remained in several prisons across the world. They arrest them for drug and lock them up. When you get arrested, they tell you it is because you failed the rules of the charm. They can even tell you it is because you winked at a woman at the airport, and that was why the charm failed.

The governor continued: “One of the native doctors from Okija who we arrested, Eke Hit, who is always boasting of making people rich under four days, his son is a waiter in a hotel in Owerri. Why is his own son working to earn a living if he can make people wealthy without work? Deception.

“These native doctors have deceived our youths enough. You will see them throwing wraps of money at functions and they have become the new role models of our boys. There is a nexus between drug, activities of native doctors and crime in the state, and what government is doing  is to deal with the root cause of insecurity”.

Pathological analysis

According to the governor, samples have been taken from all confiscated ‘Oke ite’ charms, for pathological analysis, adding that “if traces of human blood are found in them, the owners would face severe consequences.”

Before politicians started invading shrines, they were mainly used for conflict resolutions during which contending parties swore to the shrine to either prove their innocence, or the true position in any matter.

In the olden days, priests at the shrines were poor people in the community who were usually afraid of the consequences of using the shrine to amass wealth. However, when politicians started subjecting their would -be appointees and aspirants to the shrines, it became a source of wealth for the youths in that village. Many of them who traveled out of their communities and were not doing well in their businesses, saw it as an opportunity to make money and subsequently returned to become priests at the shrines. In fact, many of them said that the shrines in their villages directed them to come and become priests, or they would die. On their return and joining the shrine worshippers, they modernized it in such a way that they had agents among transporters and commercial motorcycle operators who intercepted prospective clients and directed them to their favoured priests.

Take the case of Okija Shrine, for instance, in the past 20 years, it had attracted patrons from all parts of the country, thereby boosting the economy of the host village. Following the enormous amounts paid by the politicians and businessmen visiting the shrine, modern houses and hotels began to spring up in the area and it is in these houses that those who visit the shrine lodge during the oath – taking ceremonies that usually took place at night.

Time was when motorcycle operators would rush visitors and force them to patronize their clients and collect commission on any amount of money charged. Also, the Okija shrine priests started summoning people to the shrine with threats of death should they fail to appear before the shrine. The priests also compiled registers of those who patronize the shrine, as well as victims. First time visitors were usually shown the registers and the names found in them could be frightening. Some of the names in the register were prominent people in the country. 

The visitors were also taken into the forest that leads to the shrine in bare foot, where dead bodies were kept in standing positions, and those exhumed from their homes were kept in the coffins.  Some of the dead bodies, mainly the prominent people, had been there for years without decomposing. All these were aimed at frightening the visitors.

The situation became worse for the shrine worshippers with the recent establishment of the Agunechemba security outfit by Governor Chukwuma Soludo. A recent visit to one of the shrines in Okija showed that the few worshippers remaining after the downward trend of the business, have deserted the area, like worshippers in other shrines across the state. While some of them fled across the river, others ran away from Anambra State. Also, most of the mansions built when the business was booming, are now abandoned and becoming dilapidated. Most of the once bubbling shrines in many communities are now ghost areas. The red and white cloths tied to trees have also disappeared.

Although the shrines are still there in many communities, with worshippers still trickling in, Governor Soludo’s latest battle against them has halted the growing trend of neopaganism in Anambra State.

Ogwugwu akpu

One of the priests at Okija Shrine, Maduabuchi Okeke, however, said the potency of Ogwugwu akpu in his community is still intact, expressing happiness that those who polluted it in the name of wealth acquisition, have all departed. 

He said: “Okija Shrine does not kill innocent persons. I am happy that sanity has returned in the shrine and the deceit of the past two decades has been put behind us. People who are summoned to appear before the shrine should appear because they are assured of getting justice. 

“What we have done in recent time is to stop welcoming politicians who were bringing people to swear oath for them. However, we welcome people who have complaints arising from business dealings because Ogwugwu abhors cheating.  If you reach an agreement with someone, always keep to it because Ogwugwu will fight for the oppressed if consulted. It can only kill those who are fraudulent, particularly those who defraud their business partners along their business lines or their relations. We do not promise get rich quick.”

He added: “The shrines are spirits and they know who commits offenses that make them to deserve death. It is the shrine that goes to the family of the deceased guilty person and informs them that the deceased was killed by the deity and that the corpse must be taken to the shrine, otherwise there would be more deaths. The shrine is, therefore, specifically there to defend the defenceless by protecting the honest persons in the society from the aggression of the dishonest persons who go about seeking to cheat, defraud or even kill the innocent persons.”

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