BY AGNES NWORIE, ABAKALIKI
Residents of Otaka village, Ndiaguishiabor community in Izzi Local Government Area of Ebonyi State have paraded a native doctor, Dennis Nwankwegu, accusing him of burying charms on a contentious family land with the plot to kill his relatives.
The alleged native doctor was ridiculed by members of the community recently at the village square.
Our correspondent, who visited the community, was informed that Nwankwegu was caught while making incantations and calling the names of his step-brother and other extended family members while carrying a fetish object on the piece of land.
A community leader, Agu Isaac Ominyi, disclosed that trouble started between the accused person and some of his family members following a disagreement on a piece of land. Nwankwegu was consequently accused of plotting to kill his relatives using diabolical means to take full possession of the property.
“But, as God would have it, the man was caught in the act. Nwankwegu was seen on the said contentious piece of land burying a charm, and while he was doing it, he was reciting some incantations over a talisman called ‘Nome’.
“We summoned and interrogated him; the man boldly claimed that the substances were meant to eliminate his step-brother, Ejikeme Nwankwegu, and other family members whom he was at loggerheads with,” he explained.
He further stressed that the community paraded the man at the village square for attempting to kill another man instead of reporting the case to the elders.
Ominyi stated that Nwankwegu would have been banished from the community for his remorsefulness. He was reportedly pardoned and re-admitted into the village after his charms and other fetish materials had been burnt.
The General Youth President in the community, Daniel Anene –Ofoke, disclosed that Nwankwegu admitted his faults and pleaded for mercy.
The youth leader urged the villagers to explore alternative dispute resolution rather than endangering other people’s lives or taking law into their hands at the slightest provocation.
