10 years after, Okija shrine Deity still deadly

Since the August 2004 police in­vasion of the popular Ogwugwu Okija shrine in Okija, everyday life of the town has changed.

Social interaction has changed and so is perception of the outside world of the town. An enclave in the Ihiala Local Gov­ernment Area of Anambra State, Okija was invaded by police led by former In­spector General of Police, Mr. Tafa Balo­gun.

The police action was instructed by news of the notorious activities and prac­tices of the worshippers of the local dei­ties. To everyone’s horror, corpses – fresh and old – were found strewn everywhere in the sacred forest where these shrines are located.

Although the town is known for hosting the first private Catholic university, the pre­ponderance of powerful deities has evidently brought the once sedate community to public reckoning, even though at the level of noto­riety. The most renowned of the shrines are Ogwugwu-akpu and Ogwugwu Isula.

Alusi-Okija is used to describe all Okija deities together. They are not just one but four, located in their different shrines with their different attendants and priests. They include Ulasi, Ogwugwu-Akpu, Ogwugwu- Isiula and Ogwugwu-Mmili. Of these, Og­wugwu-Mmili is the least known, especially by outsiders.

The Ulasi deity is regarded as the father of all the Okija deities. It has its shrine in the town’s market square, known as Nkwor-Oki­ja. It is believed that the other three deities took their roots from the Ulasi and as such, they are subject to it and thus do its bidding. For instance, when Ulasi, as the father of all, wants to strike or punish an offender, it sends the other Ogwugwu deities to carry out the task on its behalf. Until 2004, the activities of these deities and the practices of their devo­tees had gone without hiccups. But all that changed afterwards.

Now, 10 years down the line, the atmos­phere is no longer the same for worshippers and priests of the Ogwugwu-Isula and other Ogwugwu deities in Okija community as there has been a very drastic decline in num­ber of worshippers at the shrines.

Before the invasion, the shrines were also reputed with treating highly political related cases, prominent among which was the well-publicized case between the former Governor of Anambra State, Senator Chris Ngige and his estranged godfather, Chief Chris Uba, among others.

According to the Chief Priest of Ogwug­wu Isiula, Chief Okonkwo Anyikwa, Ulasi is a kind hearted and merciful deity but a great warrior when it comes to the defence of his people, adding that his own Ogwugwu Isiula is noted for prosperity while Ogwugwu Akpu is associated with productivity and fruitful­ness.

Chief Anyikwa further stated that these two deities alone have about 40 priests who minister to them.

Our reporter, who visited the shrines in Okija found that, unlike the Ulasi deity whose shrine is in the market place, Ogwugwu Isiula and Ogwugwu Akpu shrines are located in the midst of thick forest known as the Evil Forest.

Before the August 2004 invasion by the police, this forest habouring these shrines was alleged to have been littered with corpses and properties of those believed to have been struck dead by the deities.

But today, there is a great departure from what used to obtain in the area as the shrines are now cleared of such morbid spectre. What one can now behold are just the shrines cov­ered with white cloth and heaps of chicken feathers. Apparently, these chickens had been been slaughtered as part of worship items or sacrifice to the deities.

The Chief Priest to Ogwugwu Isiula, Chief Okonkwo Anyikwa, however said that though there are no more corpses of those believed to have been killed by the deities, it should not be taken as an evidence that they no longer potent or active. He said they still kill peo­ple in different areas only that the corpses of victims are no longer brought to the shrines.

He said that since the invasion by the po­lice 10 years ago, there has never been any reported case of victim of the deity that was brought to the shrine but insisted that people still visit the deity to get justice especially in cases of injustice and land dispute.

“I am Chief Okonkwo Anyikwa, I’m the representative of the elders of Ubahu Okija village and the Chief Priest of Ogwugwu Isiula deity in this part of the community. My own Ogwugwu kills but only those whose hands are not clean. The deity kills anyone who commits evil against the land or against his fellow human being. We don’t know how it does that, but the deity decides the fate of its victim. If you come to Ogwugwu without clean hands, you will incur the wrath of the deity, but let me say this because I have read in the newspaper that there is a fresh killing in Okija, it is all false, we don’t have any prob­lem here and Ogwugwu has never killed any­one from 2004 till date”

The chief priest further insisted that the deity is still as powerful as ever and still ad­judicates over cases and gives justice to those that sought its help by dealing with the de­faulters according to the magnitude of their offences.

He said the shrine no longer entertains corpses of those believed to have been killed by the deity, noting: “We no longer allow corpses to be brought here since that incident in 2004 when the police accused us of killing but in the actual sense, it was the Ogwugwu that killed those people and their relations brought their corpses to the shrine.”

The Chief Priest of Ogwugwu Akpu de­ity, Mr. Kaine Udemodu, whose father was among the chief priests of Okija shrines that were arrested by the police in 2004, said the deity is still as powerful as it was before and after the invasion and said that though there is no much surge of worshippers at the shrines, there are appreciable number of people seeking solutions to their problems from the deities.

Recently, an indigene of the town went to town with the story of fresh corpses in the shines. The story was published in one of the national dailies. This was stoutly refuted by the people both at home and abroad. A messenger of the Ogwugwu-Akpu deity, who was one of those arrested when the po­lice invaded the shrines, Chief James Obi­chukwu, lamented that 10 years after, while they are still nursing their wounds, a mem­ber of the community is trying to remind them of that incident which they would want to forget.

“I was a messenger to Ogugwu Akpu Ubahu Okija shrine and I was among those the police took to Abuja, I saw it all, but it pains me that Azugbo ( the tale-bearer) who was also declared wanted by the police dur­ing the invasion, could come back to start causing another trouble in the community, while we are still trying to bury the past. He was also declared wanted by the police and when the police went to his house, he escaped and the police destroyed his house. Why should he now start to tarnish the im­age of the community,” he queried.

Also speaking, Chief Osita Ndukwu, a native doctor, said the shrine since 2004 has not been linked to any crisis, adding that the town, has remained calm as ever and has not witnessed any crisis as reported in one of the national dailies. He lamented that some people have capitalized on the incident to tarnish the image of the community.

He said: “We were shocked to read in one of the dailies that there are fresh killings in the town, but as you have seen, there is no crisis whatsoever in the community. What one Azugbo, who is a native doctor based in Lagos, did was to bring up the issue of what happened in 2004 and published in the newspaper. He claimed that there is a crisis in the community but you have seen it your­self, that there is no crisis, nobody is having any problem with each other.”

Chief Ndukwu further disclosed that since the invasion by the police, the com­munity has an agreement with the Federal Government that the corpses of those that were found at the shrines be given mass burial, just to put an end to the era of bring­ing dead bodies to the shrines.

“There are no more corpses in Okija shrines as you have seen with your own eyes, but the publication made in the media was sponsored by Azugbo who incidentally is a native of this community to tarnish our image and collective respect. This is really affecting the collective image of Okija as a community”

Chief Edwin Azubuko, the Defence Min­ister of Okija Improvement Union, Lagos Branch, further lamented that despite the efforts by members of the community to restore their self-esteem and respect for the community after the ugly incident of 2004, some persons from the town have continued to drag the image of the community through the mud.

“Azugbo, as I know him, is a native doc­tor who is based in Lagos like myself. He is a member of our town union in Lagos but has his own shrine at the village but his interview where he alleged that there are still fresh killings in Okija is total embar­rassment to the entire community. Some of us who are based in Lagos saw the publica­tion as an insult to the community. I am a Christian and member of Winners’ Chapel, I’m not a member of the shrine but once the issue of collective interests of the people of the town is mentioned, I will be involved. That was why we came down to the village and discovered that the man that granted the interview was never in the village, he stays in Lagos doing his native doctor work.”

In his reaction, the President, Umuhu Improvement Union comprising Umuhu and Ubahu villages, Mazi Okam Jude said the community, since the 2004 incident, has never known happiness as regards the cor­porate image of the town across the country.

He lamented that since the incident, their daughters no longer get married and those working outside the town have been cas­tigated because some people believe that Okija person is named after any of the dei­ties.

“Those of us who are civil servants find it difficult to cope especially after the in­cident. When that thing happened, I was transferred to Onitsha and before I could get a house, it was very hard as people were looking at us from Okija as the devil and the Okija shrines. Now, when I read about fresh killings in the newspaper, I immediately summoned a general meeting in the Ezi na Ukpotu to know who did this and reason he should do this while the people of the com­munity are still grappling with the bad pub­licity of the 2004 incident”

He warned that the community has en­joyed peace and never had any misunder­standing as was widely reported but called on those who have misunderstanding with each other to follow appropriate way to set­tle their differences instead of resorting to blackmailing the entire community.

Written by Emma Uzor of the Sun