Igbo ppl ...please explain

[GodMother]

So all these ritual killings are foreal....
have heard so much about the okija shrine...hope those are skulls with cement oo
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The chilling report about the police findings at Ogwugwu Okija shrine is only a premonition of the confusion and disorientation that has permeated the psyche of the contemporary African. No doubt, the CNN, BBC, AP, Reuters, UPI and a host of other foreign media groups are already making their way to Okija, Ihiala Local Government of Anambra state, to record this gruesome site for their worldwide audience. Exposure of the worst about us gives great pleasure and a sense of relevance to many who would seize upon any opportunity to showcase the African, and in this case the Igbo, as someone entrapped in a psychological abyss from which he cannot rescue himself. But before anyone of us hops on the bandwagon of those who have always longed to civilize us, we must first pause, take a deep breath and exhale slowly.




It is sacrilegious for a genuine Igbo oracle to claim one's head because one is presumed culpable in a business dispute or social crime. What we presently behold in the Okija shrine is a blatant abuse of people's trust in the deity’s high priest; an act which, by itself, ought to be seen as an abomination. In the indigenous Igbo belief system, Ogwugwu Okija and its high priest are subject to reproach by superior deities and the society at large. Where the extent of violations is deemed to be extremely damaging, the deity could be obliterated as a minimum price to cleanse Alaigbo of such a heinous abomination.



Yes, indeed, the reported account of police raid in Ogwugwu Okija is real and unfortunately, not new in Alaigbo. Acts like the one reported is not confined to Okija shrine nor is it a fetish practice that is confined to non-believers in Christ, rural folks or impoverished kith and kin. Sites similar to the Okija shrine can be found in, at least, two locations in Enugu state, for example and also in many other states in Nigeria. During the abortive Third Republic electioneering politics of the early 90s, political operatives in a faction of National Republican Convention (NRC) in the Old Anambra State were routinely sent to one of such shrines in Oji River local government area to swear allegiance to one of the party's financiers of the time. The incumbent governor of Anambra state was alleged to have been a guest of the Okija shrine priests before he was sanctioned as PDP gubernatorial candidate in 2003 elections. Another news account of the police raid at Okija shrine suggested that one of the decomposing bodies found there was that of a wealthy Igbo Lagos-based businessman named Chief Okafor. It is no secret that the preponderance of sponsors of the likes of Okija shrines in Alaigbo and elsewhere in the country are mostly professed and practicing Christians.

What has gone wrong, one would ask? Many things have indeed gone awry. The masses of our people are trapped between two worlds; the new one that they haven't fully understood and thus unable to appreciate and the old one which they have been persuaded to abandon and disdain. When superimposed upon uncertainty about future prospects in our decrepit environment and widespread economic decline, many regular folks have incrementally lost faith in the so-called new way to modernity and are willing to give the past methods a try. If the police cannot successfully investigate and prosecute crimes with punitive sanctions meted to well known offenders, the hapless villager would not mind to resort the likes of Ogwugwu Okija oracle to seek retribution. Furthermore, since swearing by the Holy Bible has not been shown to elicit compliance in a predictable manner nowadays, the firm hand of Ogwugwu Okija priest has become a better choice for parties that are intent on entering into solemn undertaking that must not be broken. Nature allows no vacuum to exist under normal circumstances. That the likes of Ogwugwu Okija are thriving and doing hectic business today is an admission and clear evidence that those charged with leading us in the new way, after we have been de-linked from our past, have failed woefully in delivering expected results.

Without belaboring the issue, shrine priests have unwittingly been given de facto judicial powers that should otherwise belong with the police and our courts of law. Is justice then better served by going this route? Certainly, not. As further investigation on this matter shall uncover before too long, we shall learn how lethal potions are routinely administered to oath takers who flock to that shrine, sometimes based on underhand information provided beforehand regarding potential suspects or just by random pickings. Savage and horrifying, isn't it? I had a close-up view of an incident decades ago which began to make more sense to me since acquiring my medical education. A typical oath was given to prove one's innocence or guilt in a given case, for example, stealing or surreptitious ill will to neighbors, relatives and friends popularly termed witchcraft. Adult members of an entire village often volunteer en masse to visit the shrine to eat the Okija shrine's "chalk" as means of self-exculpation. The wily priests of Ogwugwu Okija usually prepare parcels of powdery stuff for each person to chew and swallow completely. The gullible oath takers never suspect that these priests selectively spike some parcels with potentially lethal concoctions while leaving the rest to function as placebo. The unlucky ones who get the spiked powder usually begin to hallucinate shortly afterward thereby publicly demonstrate their "guilt" for all to see.

continued...
www.osondu.com/articles/lostbetween2worlds.htm