Charles was sent into exile
for dragging his younger brother, Mr Osiwu Ikegwuruka, to the dreaded Okija
shrine (also called Ogwugwummiri Okija) in Ihiala Local Government Area of
Anambra State.
The native of Ezima village
in Isiala Mbano Local Government Area of Imo State, Mr. Charles Ikegwuruka, has
been driven in a wheelbarrow into exile in his maternal home, Isu, in the same
local government.
Narrating his ordeal to
Southern City News, Charles (in his mid-50s) said his brother (Osiwu) accused
him of making his wife (names withheld) barren.
It was gathered that Charles
had consulted a native doctor, who told him that a woman in his family had a
“marine husband and child” and would not be able to bear children. The native
doctor directed that the woman be brought to the shrine for cleansing.
“On the day of the cleansing,
the native doctor took them to a river, killed a goat and strangled a fowl. He
made incantations an ordered her to strip naked for a bathe in the river. Osiwu
and Charles were there and watched her perform as instructed,” it was gathered.
It was, however, learnt
that the cleansing failed to cure the barrenness; instead it led a crisis
between Charles and Osiwu.
Southern City News gathered
that the conflict was heightened when Osiwu received a letter from the Okija
shrine, at the instance of Charles, summoning him and his wife to visit the
shrine to swear an oath.
Osiwu reported the
development to his kinsmen, who ordered Charles to withdraw the matter from
Okija shrine. But Charles told the elders that the shrine refused to approve
that the matter be withdrawn.
Charles’ kinsmen
immediately resolved that he must ride on a wheelbarrow with palm fronds tied
around his neck to his maternal home and stay there until he withdrew the
matter lodged before the dreaded Okija shrine.
“Our son (Charles) has
committed sacrilege. We can’t finish resolving a matter and still take it to a
shrine, coupled with other atrocities Charles has been committing,” one of the
kinsmen, who chose not to mentioned, said.
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