10 years after, Okija shrine 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 Gov­
ernment 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 po­
lice 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.