Nosa Akenzua Asaba
Fear of the unknown has continued to grip people across communities in Delta State following the influx of mysterious owls, which frighten them with their strange cries during the night in recent times in the state.
Our correspondent gathered that residents in Asaba, the state capital; Oleh and Ibusa communities, particularly, have lately been experiencing this influx of mysterious owls which make strange and frightening cries.
It was gathered that in the last few weeks, these mysterious owls cry like babies during the night, causing panic and sleepless nights among the residents. But during daytime, these strange birds appear in large numbers and perch on trees and roofs of residential buildings in the communities.
Reports indicate that during nightfall, these owls visit all sorts of evils on their targets in the communities, especially children, who are usually afflicted with ailments such as fever and vomiting. Some of the children are said to have even given up the ghost in the course of such nocturnal bouts of ailments.
Recently, at Okwe Quarters in Asaba, two owls reportedly suddenly emerged from trees within the premises of Ogbueshi Patrick Ndili in the wee hours of the night, crying loudly, and in a twinkle of an eye, two of Ndili’s children fell ill, feeling feverish and vomiting. The two siblings eventually succumbed to the sudden ailments as all efforts made to save their lives were to no avail: they both died eventually.
Speaking with our correspondent, the father of the two children, Ogbueshi Patrick Ndili, said, “The owls had been crying on the big trees within my household, and I thought it was the usual birds’ cries. But I didn’t know it was all a bad omen for me and in the early hours of Monday, these owls in mysterious ways ‘attacked’ them, and I lost them (children) to the situation. I have buried them (children), but I will not relent in my efforts to get to the root of these mysterious deaths.”
Investigation revealed that the areas worse hit by the invasion of the strange birds include some parts of Asaba, Ibusa, Oleh, Effurun and Warri, especially communities where there are large numbers of uncompleted and abandoned buildings as well as trees, where they perch and make their frightening cries, creating panic and fears amongst the residents.
Pastor Michelle Mayeah of the Aglow Temple Church of God said, “The signs portend clearly evil in the lands, and owls are identified with evil. What is happening at present may become worse in no distant time unless prayers are offered to cleanse the lands of evils.”
An eyewitness, Stella Debbie, said, “We have attempted to kill them around our house in Okwe Quarters in Asaba. We shot at them, but they resurfaced in large numbers and cried all through the night on that day and we became confused about their activities. We don’t know what to do,” Stella said.
Meanwhile, there was pandemonium recently in Oleh community as residents of Irri near Oleh struggled to catch a glimpse of a woman accused of witchcraft and alleged to have suddenly fallen after an owl was killed by security guards at Christ Chosen Deliverance Church, Irri, Isoko South Local Government Area of the state.
It was gathered that when confronted by an angry mob, the strange woman said she “flew in” from the kwale community as a witch, adding that she was waiting for her father. The woman, according to eyewitnesses, looked confused as she could not identify the community and environment she had found herself as she held the dead owl in her hands.
General overseer of the Christ Chosen Deliverance Church, Apostle Michael Oki, noted that the Lord was cleaning up evil from the lands.
