Raid on shrines: Police recover 50 corpses, 20 skulls
FELIX UKA, Awka
ANAMBRA State police command yesterday recovered 20 skulls, most of them fresh, and about 50 corpses at Ogwugwu Okija shrines in Ihiala local government area of the state.
Heavily armed policemen in 10 trucks, mostly men of the special anti-robbery squad, were accompanied by the state commissioner of police, Mr. Felix Ogbaudu in the raid.
Addressing newsmen after the raid, Mr. Ogbaudu said the command in a convoy of 10 vehicles, fully loaded with policemen, arrived the Okija community by 10.00 a.m.
After showing journalists the 20 skulls, the commissioner said the raid followed a tip-off by a former member of the shrines (names withheld) who said he saw over 50 corpses in various stages of decomposition at the shrine, saying that it was a peculiarly gory sight.
The commissioner said that the remains of Chief Victor Okafor (a.k.a Ezego), who died mysteriously about two years ago, could be among the corpses carelessly scattered in the various shrines in the Okija community.
"I tell you, I almost shed tears: I saw corpses thrown around the evil forest, with remains of their clothes on, I think they were embalmed before being taken to the shrines", he stated.
Ogbaudu said it was not unlikely that most of those said to be missing could be found in the shrines.
"You can’t rule out that it is a market place for human parts, yes!, where are the heads of those whose heads I found missing at the shrines?"
He lamented that the development might have been due to age-long traditional practices, urging people in and around the area to have faith in God and not be compelled to deposit bodies of their relations at the shrines.
The commissioner assured that his command would unravel the immediate and remote issues concerning rituals.
This is unbelievable and how can this happened in Biafraland?
posted
As far as me is concerned evil remain that by name. I am ever proud of people at BNW.com their objectivity cannot be equaled since we know what a yoroba run site or news media would’ve done if s*h*i*t like this happened in their area. They did put this type of news in the dustbin while spewing their usual lies about Igbo/BIAFRA, all sorts.
Lots of crap that go on in that state was as a result of the lawlessness, which obasanjo introduced with his blind support for a coupist, ala, chris uba. I'm equally familiar with a word called PLAGIARISM, not sure about some people. Credit should’ve been given where this news was lifted. Right?
___________________ BIAFRA: The land of my ancestors now, yesterday and always. So it will be! Posts: 2482 | From: Ala Igbo | Registered: Apr 2004
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quote:Anyway, may I request those planning to attend WIC Party in NJ to please ask those so called Igbo leaders how they plan to address this atrocity. - PeaceMaker
Yours is simple yet extremely sensible if only the WIC folks are as smart. Forget them these guys are only about securing future meal tickets for themselves you better believe. Otherwise their performance, which left a sour taste in Houston, is there for the record. They prevented serious guys from asking arthur "the crook" nzeribe, ojo madukwe and their kinds real and important questions. Can you imagine? As for the unemployed yoroba chap his not gonna dissect or look into the story behind the story. No reasonable reply will come instead a surprise from behind attack is what you gonna get. Some folk’s ethnic lack of knowledge continue to boggle the mind.
___________________ BIAFRA: The land of my ancestors now, yesterday and always. So it will be! Posts: 2482 | From: Ala Igbo | Registered: Apr 2004
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posted
Bababoyz: This is no time to play the race card. Its times like this anyone with conscience is forced by nature to rise above ethnic and religious pettiness to call EVIL by its name.
For the records, the people who committed these heinous crimes DID NOT do it in the name of Ndi-Igbo, at least not the one that I come from. So whenever the powers that be in Nigeria decides to punish them for their crimes, which I hope should be sooner than later, they should do so with every weight of the law and without any mercy. Those people are BEASTS and nothing more. It should never matter or concern us from whence they come from. I pray that the soul of their victims rest in peace!
Bababoyz, I hope there will be this general condemnation when things like this happen in your own part of the country. Should that happen, as I know that ritual killings and other crimes are not an Igbo only act, I will also look foward to see the Omoduduwas and other Nigerians call evil by its name as the Nwa Aros have done. It's only when that happens that I will agree that we are making progress as a group.
Posts: 997 | From: Germany | Registered: Mar 2001
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posted
By the way, does anyone know if Baba's so called administration has any measurable criteria for their success or failure in office.
Do they even talk statistics? How are they measured?
I have never seen or even heared of any discussion in that light. Doesn't the primary school children get report cards at term end?
I think its time we start DEMANDING verifiable statistical results. Again let me go back to our resume tooting brothers and sister prepping for NJ WIC party. Would it not make sense to DEMAND report card presentations from ALL of the so called leaders that seek your audience.
Think of what impact you would make on the minds of those participant governors if they are made to present Parados (with VERIFYABLE DATA) on their performance in the following areas:
Population growth
Major crimes...Murder
Education
Un-Employment
etc. etc.
Even if they doctor the numbers (am sure they will), at least they will be establishing presidence for follow-on true leaders...or crooks as the case maybe.
...but again, they are all waiting for federal allocation towards records keeping efforts. I forgort everything has to be approved by Baba, someone of these governors even take permit before flushing!
How can crime be eliminated or checked if no one is held accountable? Tufia kwa.....this ala bakwumi attitude on even the most precious- life, will drive me out of this God forsaken place!
You made a salient point. But the problem of all accounts is lack of profound leadership which led to "vulnereability" and "gullibility" of Nd'Igbo from the past, present and future.
And to confess, we may have been doomed as a people when we wait on a turn by turn basis for the attractive national cake-sharing formula rather than pull the bull by the horn and take the initiative. The case of Okija shrine is nothing new. It's been going on for ages in all spheres of Igboland.
The irony: Nobody talks until it becomes way too late.
Posts: 479 | From: The Universe | Registered: Jul 2001
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posted
There is no excuse for these unburied soul, the families, community and the police should be held accountable. The families for not reporting the missing relatives to the police. And if reported, the police for not taking them seriously and the community for being ignorant of the missing people. Habba!. This homicidal act is ritualistic and requires special investigation.
Hail Biafra
[ August 06, 2004, 12:12 AM: Message edited by: Waypoint1Biafra ]
Posts: 1672 | From: Minnesota USA | Registered: Mar 2001
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posted
The Nigerian Police Farce do not seem to know what they are dealing with. Were these victims of murder? Were they victims of ignorant relatives who hold odd beliefs and threw their corpses into a shrine? Are they now going to use DNA technology to identify as many of the corpses as possible? That way they can begin to establish the real story behind the findings. I don't know what role we expect the WIC to play. I usually associate WIC with organising parties for would be presidential candidates. The last time I heard them trying to build any thing it was a so called hall of shame for one of their past august visitors. Would you refer anyone to WIC WEBSITE to learn about Igbo culture? I have tried making sense of this virtual hall of shame and obviously couldn't. The useless site names all the officials, their pictures and pictures of american built hotels to advertise another fraudlent owambe in NJ.
How come we don't hear about places like IGBONET that care about Igbo culture?
[ August 06, 2004, 12:46 AM: Message edited by: CSE ]
Posts: 621 | Registered: Mar 2001
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posted
Apparently Ohandioshi of Igboland are pissed.
quote:Okija shrine raid aimed at mocking Igbo – Ohaneze
• Abuja may take over investigation
By Chukwudi Achife
Bureau Chief (Enugu)
and Okey Maduforo
Correspondent (Awka)
Pan-Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohaneze Ndigbo, has frowned at Wednesday’s raid on the famous Okija shrine in Anambra State by the police, describing it as a ploy to mock the Igbo.
Speaking through its Secretary General Joe Achuzie, the group said the raid is both "ridiculous" and “condemnable”.
Anambra State Police Commissioner Felix Ogbaudu on Wednesday announced that men of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad of the command raided the Ogwugwu Isuala shrine at Okija leading to the arrest of 32 priests, recovery of 20 human skulls, a corpse and the discovery of over 50 bodies at the shrine.
Even with the objection by Ohaneze, police force headquarters in Abuja plans to send a team of officers to carry out further investigation on the discoveries.
Police Public Relations Officer Kolapo Shofoyinwe said in an interview on Thursday that the command has blown the lead and more inquiry would soon be carried out.
Fear is now the order of the day in Anambra State as those alleged to have exploited the powers of the shrine are said to be jittery over possible police arrest.
However, it is celebration unlimited in Awka and Onitsha as members of the public discuss the turn of events.
The raid on the shrine followed a tip-off earlier in the week after two petitions were channelled through the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Tafa Balogun.
Reacting to the discoveries on Thursday, Achuzie told newsmen that the development ,which to him is “not new in Nigerian tradition”, was not worth publicising as it portrays the Igbo as cannibals. He alleged that the police are out to rubbish the Igbo.
Said he: "Unless the police have no other job to do, they can go on making further discoveries on things that are in consonance with ancient history. Everybody in Igboland and Nigeria knows about the existence of shrines everywhere. Go to Hausa, go to Yoruba, go to every part of Nigeria, there exists one shrine and another.
“These things are in the Nigerian tradition. So, unmasking one in Ihiala is not new. These skulls have been there for long ago and I do not see anything new about it except that the police want to portray the Igbo as cannibals. But this is not what the police should be involved in.
“Ohaneze does not thrive in illegality. Our duty is to ensure that all Igbo do that which is right. In doing so, however, we shall not condone any act that will paint a race in bad light. The police in Awka have done one. But they should not go farther than this especially when they are not conversant with the history of a people".
Achuzie, who recalled the history of the Okija shrine, said it has been reputed for justice in the settlement of dispute among people, stressing that never in Igboland has anybody complained that the priests killed or sacrificed human beings unjustly.
He added: "Nobody has said that they kill people there. Those who go there go there to settle their matters. They take oaths and at the end of the day, anyone found guilty is killed by the shrine. But it is obvious that not all cases are taken to this shrine because it is very powerful.
“The human parts and skulls which they discovered are merely those who had sworn at the place and apparently found guilty and were killed not by any human being but the gods. Their bodies are usually brought to the place as sacrifice to the gods".
Achuzie wondered why the discovery should be made an issue especially when nobody has complained about the existence of the shrine, adding that it is another form of the marginalisation of the Igbo in the scheme of things.
"Why should it be the shrine in Okija? Does it mean that there are no such things in other parts of this country? Okija shrine is reputable in Igboland and the whole world is aware of it. I do not think any amount of campaign can destroy that which has been in existence for a long time. I should think the police should watch it and release all those they arrested in the interest of justice and fair play", he said.
What do you expect, some of these Ohaneze type may have been patronizing that shrine and are rightly worried about exposure by the Obasanjo police force. It should have been clear to them when they helped dis-enfranchise Ndigbo that Obasanjo can expose them anytime he likes and no amount of crying will earn them any sympathy. This is what happens when people let evil men run their affairs.
Posts: 1532 | From: USA | Registered: Mar 2001
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posted
Why was Obasanjo Looking for Dead Bodies in a Shrine?
I would love to believe that those are the skulls and bones of Igbo efulefu or those of Yoroba and Hausa-Fulani misadventurers in Igboland; the police thugs who kill MASSOBIANS, or the dirty Yoroba who spy for Shell oil. There has got to be a way to get rid of those cattle-herding disease-carriers from the north who think they have a birthright to poison rivers, streams, and ponds in Igboland with their mad-cow disease-infested livestock. Why should those worthless defilers of Igboland not be sent to our evil forests or shrines at Okija?
However, we need to determine first of all that those skulls and bones were not planted at Okija by Obasanjo and his fellow thugs in the "police." What business do those thugs have raiding a shrine in Igboland when there are hundreds of shrines in Hausa and Yoroba lands with more gruesome images? I, for one, would like to see what the shrines look like in the backward Yorobaland where people still believe that their slave progenator descended from heaven and hundreds of poor Yoroba people are buried alive each time an Ooni or Oba joins his ancestors. I want to see the shrines in Al-Qaedia, I mean Hausa-Fulani North under Sharia.
We need to know what type of barbaric rituals Ogboni Obasanjo now wants to perform with those skulls since we know that he and his police thugs know nothing about performing proper investigations. After all, Obasanjo and his thugs were handed the skull and ugly body on one Bola Ige, and he could not properly investigate Ige's death. Instead, Obasanjo harvested Ige's organs and released Omisore to the Senate.
[ August 06, 2004, 10:54 AM: Message edited by: Dave ]
Posts: 365 | Registered: Mar 2001
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posted
Dave the position you have taken here is bewildering, there are people who are dead this is not in dispute; they have died in a shrine under very dubious circumstances this is not in dispute either how Obasanjo has been brought into this is quite frankly unbelievable. Let’s focus on those individual's who meet their demise at this shrine and say a prayer from them and their families.
This should not be turned into a Yoruba Igbo fight; it does no one any good, let’s find those who committed these very heinous crimes and punish them, their origins are not the issue here their acts are, and this is what we must focus on.
Posts: 66 | From: Irvine | Registered: Apr 2001
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posted
Quote: ------------------------ "This should not be turned into a Yoruba Igbo fight; it does no one any good, let’s find those who committed these very heinous crimes and punish them, their origins are not the issue here their acts are, and this is what we must focus on.---Wale. -------------------------
You kinda repeated Nwa Aro's earlier position. Those, be they the Ohaneze guys or fellow forimutes who think people will still be dribbled with the ball of race or religion in order to score an EVIL goal should know by now that people of races and afiths have overgrown that level of retrogressive reasoning. To tell you that I am very impressed how most members of this board--both Igbos and non Igbos --have come together to CONDEMN this heinous crime will be an understatement.
On this positive note, I commend most contibutors to this thread for not falling to the TRAP the so called Ohaneze scribe threw at us. As someone did opine: how are we sure that those who have suddenly rised in defence of the opten defenceless Igbos are not part and parcel of this crime?
How come Ohaneze which maintained a criminal silence during the Anambra State governorship crisis and other problems that have affected the Igbo nation has suddenly found its voice now?
Anyone can let him/herself be deceived by those Ohaneze folks, but Nwa Aro for one will never be made to believe that killing people is "part of our (Igbo) culture". The man who made that indefencible comment (unfortunately Achuzia happens to be one of those Igbos I used to hold in high esteem) must have borrowed his LOB-SIDED reasoning (on this issue I mean) from Obasanjo when the latter said rigging elections and not accounting for votes casts by his fellow citizens is in his head "an African culture"! As these so called leaders can see, most people know better, and are hence telling them and their ilk that EVIL IS NEITHER IGBO, YORUBA, HAUSA, AFRICAN, NOR BLACK; infact, evil has no colour, creed or religion.
Great thread I must confess. We are really making progress.
Posts: 997 | From: Germany | Registered: Mar 2001
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quote:Voodoo people and voodoo politics in a voodoo democracy. Shame onto you all.- Yvette
What is there to shame any, young woman? Do you have problem infusing info as you read since you didn't take into consideration that those you want shamed are equally disgusted over the whole crap. And in fact condemned it in no small way?
No wonder after three years all you could muster is a measly eighty-five posts. A better try next time, aiight?
quote:How come Ohaneze which maintained a criminal silence during the Anambra State governorship crisis and other problems that have affected the Igbo nation has suddenly found its voice now? - Nwa Aro
Nice question and the answer is simple the old inaction iwuanyawu and co. (Joe Irukwu) dominated Oha whatever has since been replaced with one run by the able Col. Joe Achuzie. Remember him, "Air Raid?"
___________________ BIAFRA: The land of my ancestors now, yesterday and always. So it will be! Posts: 2482 | From: Ala Igbo | Registered: Apr 2004
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posted
"What business do those thugs have raiding a shrine in Igboland when there arehundreds of shrines in Hausa and Yorobalands with more gruesome images?" ---------Dave
GREAT QUESTION.
WALE:
DON'T BE FOOLED BY THE STORIES WHICH IS A PLOT OF CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE IGBO. MAYBE YOU ARE NOT AWARE, BUT DO YOU KNOW THAT NOBODY WOULD DARE CARRY OUT A RAID AT THE SLOPE OF IKPOBA RIVER WHERE THOUSANDS OF HUMAN BODIES HAD BEEN USED FOR RITUALS IN ONE OF OBA OF BENIN'S QUEST FOR HUMAN BLOOD? AND DO YOU KNOW TOO THAT THE EPE RIVER HAS SWALLOWED MORE HUMAN SKULLS FOR OBA ONIKAN OF LAGOS THAN YOU CAN IMAGINE? AND HOW ABOUT THE RITUALS WHEN THE OONI TAKES ALONG WITH HIM HUNDREDS OF INNOCENT SOULS DURING HIS BURIAL AS PART OF AN EVIL CULTURE?
WHY WOULD OBASANJO'S POLICE THUGS SINGLE OUT THE SHRINE IN OKIJA LEAVING THE MORE OMINOUS SHRINES AT BENIN, IFE AND LAGOS? DOESN'T THAT TELL YOU THERE IS A CONSPIRACY AND IGBOS ARE THE TARGETS?
GIVE TO CAESAR WHAT'S CAESAR AND TO GOD WHAT'S GOD. THAT'S MY CREDO.
[ August 06, 2004, 09:07 PM: Message edited by: NRIOZARA ]
Posts: 25 | Registered: Nov 2003
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quote: ...BUT DO YOU KNOW THAT NOBODY WOULD DARE CARRY OUT A RAID AT THE SLOPE OF IKPOBA RIVER WHERE THOUSANDS OF HUMAN BODIES HAD BEEN USED FOR RITUALS IN ONE OF OBA OF BENIN'S QUEST FOR HUMAN BLOOD?... WHY WOULD OBASANJO'S POLICE THUGS SINGLE OUT THE SHRINE IN OKIJA LEAVING THE MORE OMINOUS SHRINES AT BENIN, IFE AND LAGOS? DOESN'T THAT TELL YOU THERE IS A CONSPIRACY AND IGBOS ARE THE TARGETS?
To the author of the quote all I can say for now is a big THANKS. BTW: I'm not a supporter of this craft regardless of where it exists. My only interest is the thief's selective cleansing whereas his yoroba/bini kins are the masters at it.
___________________ BIAFRA: The land of my ancestors now, yesterday and always. So it will be! Posts: 2482 | From: Ala Igbo | Registered: Apr 2004
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Why rush into conclutions? Nobody should be fooled about the intentions of the raid to Okija shrine by the obasanjo tugs, let similar raids be made to all the shrines in Biafranigeria and compare the revelations or at best compare the presumed crime of the shrine priests with that of obasanjo/balogun since he they imposed themselves on Biafranigerians; those pictures are no more horrifying than that of the nigerian police loading more than five hundred Igbo corpse they abetted the northern alamajeri's to slaughter on a truck for mas burial recently.
Achuzue has once again exposed Obasanjo's hatred and all his plans to put Igbo on the bad light before the rest of the world, he should try another formula as this is not working.
___________________ He likened the second coming of Christ to the realisation of the Biafran dream, stating that at a time people least expect, the much sought Biafra would be a reality..Rev. Fr. Cornelius Ezeiloaku Posts: 622 | From: santiago, chile | Registered: Jan 2002
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posted
You guys for once should quit all the politiking. Yes, Obasanjo is one of the worst leaders Nigeria has ever had. And what makes him a bad chemistry for Nigeria is that he is a civilian with no better vision for the country. But what has Obasanjo got to do with the rituals in Anambra? Is it his lack of leadership, yes or hatred for Ndi igbo, certainly not. This is about Anambra not Ndi Igbo or Yoruba rituals We should all condem this ritualist behavior rather than what Obasanjo should have done.I know the man is a glorified dumb but Anambra deserves a large portion of the blame than Obasanjo. They condoned it. While Anambra was playing politics of God Father, the rituals were busy poisening their people and dancing on their half hazard graves. The people of Anambra are accomplishes because they knew about it. The saw the evil, heard the devil and hailed the priest. They prefered old aged customs to human beings. It does no matter how old this custom is, it gotta stop. You damn right. I'm mad to the max.
No human being deserves to be killed against his will. There is no justification for what happned in Anambra.Anambra does have a reputation for duhumanizing women who lost their husband as a result of sudden death. They say, it is customary and I say it is debasement of a wife who should be seeking closure for the death of her husband. It is excrutiating to see what women in Anambra go through when their hubbies die. Tuffiakwa. They will confine women exclusively in a shack for days without food or water and shave their hair. She becomes a suspect to the sudden death of her hubby. They want her to confess. It is confession by torture. I know my sister was a victim. And we had to fight for law against this customs. Anambra state and the Feds should aggressively legislate law against all forms of rituals, including the use of birds, eggs, chicken and animals. It gotta stop. This is the time for Anambra and other states to stop it. Law and education is the key. Obasanjo remains a fool for leadership but he is not responsible for the bastardized killing in Anambra. The people of Anambra should live and deal with it. I hope you copy.
Hail Biafra
[ August 07, 2004, 03:11 AM: Message edited by: Waypoint1Biafra ]
Posts: 1672 | From: Minnesota USA | Registered: Mar 2001
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posted
Anybody sticking his head out for Ohaneze here may soon be full of regrets. This has nothing to do with Ndigbo being humiliated, Ohaneze already helped do that last year before the whole word during the election. What worse humilation was there than the burial of Ndigbo in mass graves in Kano ?
This was the same shrine Ngige and Ubah visited on the eve of the rigged Anambra elections where Ngige was made to swear to an oath. I don't care if Hausa and Yoruba people have their own shrines, we don't need this type of tradition. People visit such places and think they have acquired power to betray Ndigbo without consequences. I am waiting to see the list of patrons, that is if the BiafraNigeria police will follow through with their threats.
Posts: 1532 | From: USA | Registered: Mar 2001
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Don't mind Wale. Obasanjo knows more about those skulls than he is letting on. We all know that it was the same shrine where Obasanjo's boy, Ubah, took Ngige and forced Ngige to sign over the people of Anambra and their so-called "federal allocations." Not only was this gimmick meant to humiliate Ndi Igbo, it was meant to implicate Ngige, Uba's and Obasanjo's enemy.
Posts: 365 | Registered: Mar 2001
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posted
What are all those Yoruba and Hausa people doing around those skulls and dead bodies.
quote:---------------------
The bottomline is that we must stop importing Yoruba culture into Igboland, and tell those foreigners to keep their dead bodies in Yoruba and Hausa land. I agree with Dave. Don't be surprised if those are the skulls of Awolowo's and Obasanjo's political enemies. Posts: 162 | Registered: Mar 2001
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