He had a distressing story
to tell. But, even about a month after he escaped the brutal treatment he
suffered allegedly in the hands of his kinsmen, Esau Ihemeje still struggled
with his memory and words while trying to recount his ordeal.
A sign Patrick, his elder brother who accompanied
him along with Nelson Nnanna Nwafor, Executive Director of Foundation for
Environmental Rights, Advocacy and Development (FENRAD) and another man, said
indicated the residual trauma of his
battering by the community.
The three men had walked
into the Aba office of The Sun on June 3, to report the brutalisation of
Ihemeje, 40, by members of his Umuokenyi – Ndiolumbe community, Nvosi, in
Isiala Ngwa South Local Government of Abia State for allegedly practising witchcraft!
He was not only chained and
severely battered, but also banished from the village for 14 years!
But, the victim denied the
charge, describing it as a mere ploy “of giving a dog bad name in order to hang
it”.
Ihemeje, who claimed to be
a block molder and farmer, is seeking justice and redress for alleged false and
malicious accusation and subsequent inhuman treatment meted out to him.
Once upon a ‘witch catcher’
His village falls within
the cluster of communities mostly in the southern zone of the state, where a
self-styled ‘witch catcher’ simply named Utu held sway.
Utu was said to have
stormed the area between 2006/2007 and “carved an empire, making himself the
accuser, prosecutor and judge over matters concerning witchcraft.”
Utu got the subtle backing
of authorities, especially youths, who saw him as a ‘messiah’ who came to
sanitise their communities from witches responsible for their economic
stagnation and other ills over the years.
But, many of the so-called
witches claimed they were accused falsely and for those lucky to be alive, they
have unforgettable and dreadful stories of torture and harassment to tell.
Saturday Sun learnt
that Utu and his cohorts normally
stormed a community on a designated day and in a carnival-like atmosphere, sat
in judgment over all persons accused fairly or falsely of witchcraft and his
judgment had no appeal. Only few of those so sentenced were said to survive the
excruciating treatment they were subjected to. The government and the police
apparent indifference appeared to have lent a tacit approval to the man’s
shenanigans.
How trouble started
Ihemeje said he was in
front of his family’s compound at Ndiolumbe around 2:00am on May 2 when two
persons he knew led some other men in. “I demanded to know why they came at
that time to my house and they told me they were vigilante members. I then
asked them whether it was our compound they were deployed to watch over that
night. I told them that if there was anything like vigilante that all members
of the community should be made aware through a town crier… but, before I could
say any other thing, they accused me of witchcraft,” Ihemeje said.
The group arrested and
carried him to another compound and threatened to deal with him, he said. “They
said it had been a long time they had wanted to get me. As they carried me to
that compound, they tied my hands and legs with rope, beat me with clubs and
used machete to inflict injuries on my body including head. At a point, they
wanted to use the machete to cut off my two legs, God saved me, but the deep
cuts are still there on my legs,” he further narrated.
More injustice
Ihemeje said he was
subjected to worse humiliation as other people joined in beating and inflicting
machete cut injuries on him, while also making jest of him His traducers, he
said, boasted that they would kill him, without any consequence, because he was
a witch. “As they beat me, they, including the women took me to the village
hall, calling me a witch and making jest of me as if I was a common criminal.
He also alleged that the mob attacked and destroyed his farm by pouring acid on
the crops.
After the crude public
display, Ihemeje alleged that his accusers took him to his house, forced the
door open and destroyed all his household property, after which he was stripped
naked and carried to his maternal home at Umuanunu village in Obingwa Local
Government area, as customs demanded.
Ihemeje said he had, had no
opportunity of reporting the matter to
the traditional ruler of the community, because the people had barred his
access to the community. “I have been hiding somewhere outside the community as
they said they will kill me if I return.”
Rejected by maternal home
It is a known custom in
Igbo land that when one has problem in his father’s place, he runs to his
maternal kinsmen to take refuge. His mother’s people would bring him back to
broker peace. But in Ihemeje’s case, his mother’s community reportedly rejected
him on the basis of the ill-treatment meted out to him by his father’s people.
“My maternal relations
objected to the action of my people and asked them to take me back to my home,
insisting that the way I was treated was an infringement on my human rights,
that that is not done within the area. But surprisingly, when I went back,
these people used machete to pursue me, insisting they would kill me and eat my
meat if I stepped into the community.”
Condition for return
Ihemeje’s kinsmen
reportedly banished him from the community, saying he could only return after
14 years on condition that he paid these fines- nine cartons of beer, nine
crates of malt, nine cartons of Legend beer, three bottles of hot drinks, three
jars of palm wine, 36 pieces of kola nut, 36 alligator pepper and payment of
N20, 000. Ihemeje said he signed the undertaking under duress.
Fight for justice
Ihemeje’s elder brother,
Patrick, alleged that their kinsmen acted “out of human intolerance” insisting
that his brother was not a witch. He alleged that his brother’s dehumanisation
was masterminded by “four or five persons”, whom, he alleged called in the
villagers when my brother was about to die so that it would look as if all the
villagers were involved.”
He demanded that the law be
made to take its course, because his kinsmen took the law into their hands.”
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