Death too painful: 70-year-old mother of 6 killed over alleged witchcraft

By Daniel Anokwuru

When Mrs. Egonyibo Ogbeh left her home in Obetim Uno, in Afo, Ndokwa East Local Government Area of Delta State, on Wednesday, May 8, 2019, she never knew that death was lurking around the corner.

She had served her husband, Mr. Ogbuiji Ogene Ogbeh breakfast, then set to her farm to harvest some crops and also gather firewood. Unknown to her, her assailants were waiting to harvest her life first. She embarked on a journey of no return without saying goodbye to her husband nor any of her children.

The Nigerian Xpress learnt that the septuagenarian was killed over her alleged involvement in witchcraft. She was accused of holding the destiny and progress of the youths of the community. The community had in the past, taken her to a shrine, to confess of her alleged witchcraft, but when they got to the shrine, the Chief Priest demanded that they should bring other women from the community, so as to prove the identity of the real witch. A proposal we learnt did not go down well with them, as they abandoned their chase.

Speaking on how their mother was killed, Mr. Collins Onyeukwu Ogbeh, third son of the deceased said her mother was killed with a cutlass, with cuts in different parts of her body. He said she had finished working in the farm, tied some firewood, which she intends to bring home before she was murdered, and abandoned in the bush. The spiritual search for those behind the gruesome murder, have stirred up more problem, as the children of the deceased, who were in their various states of residence when the incident occurred have been accused of being responsible for the death. They were told that their pictures appeared in the shrine when their names were mentioned.

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Collins said: “I was in Lagos when they called me that my mother had been killed in her farm with a cutlass, that was on Wednesday, May 8, 2019. The people that found the corpse alerted the police from Ashaka Police Station, Delta State Command. The police came and took the corpse to St. Luke’s Mortuary in Delta. They said they would come back for an arrest, but we have not seen them.

“I met with the Divisional Police Officer (DPO), in his office on Sunday, May 12, 2019, he told us that they were preparing to come for arrest, that they were renovating the station, that once they finished they would come. “Some people in the community accused my mother of being a witch long ago. The youths from my father’s side said she was the one holding their destiny. Some of them usually go to the house to threaten her. But my mother was not a witch. My father said that the story started from somewhere, that somebody went to a spiritual home, came back and said that one of the witches in the community is Egonyibo. So they said it was my mother. After, they said it was not her own Egonyibo again, that it was another Egonyibo. Later, they forced one of my brother’s daughters to confess that she was a witch. After that, they came back and again said that it was my mother.”

Collins disclosed that after the killing of his mother, her community demanded that their in-laws should provide those responsible for her death or they would come for revenge. This demand prompted the two communities to set up a team to embark on a spiritual search of the culprits. But the revelation from the search has left a bigger puzzle, waiting to be solved, as the deceased’s children were accused of being responsible for the death.

“My mother’s people said my father’s community must produce those that killed their daughter, or else they would avenge her death. Some people gathered and said that they were going to spiritual home to unmask the identities of those behind the murder, as dealing with police would take time. We told them that we did not want to be involved in their spiritual search, that we would rely on the police.

“Surprisingly, they returned and said we were the ones that killed our mother. We were not in Delta when the murder took place. We were in our various states where we reside; it was the youths from the community that called us before we came back. You can see that the allegation is very ridiculous,” he said.

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Also speaking, Mr. Nnamdi Ogbeh, one of the accused, who was alleged that his picture appeared in the shrine when his name was mentioned, told our reporter through his cell phone that he was surprised when they said his picture appeared in the shrine. He said he was not in the farm when the death occurred, and he learnt about it through a phone call from the village.

The family has condemned the revelation from the shrine. They said from all indication, it was very clear that there is serious connivance on the death. “Before I got to the farm, the police had removed her corpse from the scene to the mortuary. It is very clear that those who went for the search know something about the death. But we trust and rely on the police. We believe they will arrest the true suspects,” Miss Ebere, a relation, said.

Reverend Chukwudi Amutue, second son of the deceased, noted that they were from a polygamous family, and the people the arrow is pointing at are the children of the second wife.

He said: “The issue is that we are in a polygamous home. The people the crime is pointing to are from the second wife. The police had invited them but they said they were going to a spiritual home to find out those that killed our mother. So, the police told them to report once they are back.”

When contacted on his cell phone, the Divisional Police Officer, (DPO), Ashaka Police Station, ASP Ifeanyi Daniel, told the reporter that though no arrest had been made, his men were on their way to the village. “Though we have not arrested anyone, but they just called me that they had caught one of the suspects in the community. So, I have sent my men to the village to bring the suspect to the station for further questioning. You can call back latter for more update.”