Agbarha-Otor sin against“Holy Spirit”?
Posted on 23th Apr 2013
…Hoodlums invade church, rapes Vicar’s 13year old daughter, others
…Claims Vicar’s prayers is responsible for the death of a “festival priest”
Author: By Omafume Amurun and Bini Isreal
Some hoodlums from Agbarha-Otor in Ughelli north Local Government area, celebrating the pagan festival of “Ekene” last Wednesday committed an abominable act against the Anglican Church when they invaded the church and raped the vicar’s 13 year old daughter, several other ladies including married women and temporarily forced the Monarch of the community to relocate to Ughelli.
Following this development, the Urhobo Times was told that the Vicar, Evangelist F.K. Usenu, who narrowly escaped being killed, as he was not at home when the vandals unleashed mayhem on his Vicarage has been withdrawn temporarily from Agbarha-Otor to Ughelli. The hoodlums claimed that the Evangelist’s prayers was responsible for the death of the “festival Priest”
The remote cause of the crisis which ended on Wednesday 10th April was the refusal of the traditional ruler to be part of the two weeks festival. The newly sworn-in Monarch, His Royal Majesty (HRM), Richard Oghenevwogaga Ebele Okoefe I, the Ovie of Agbarha-Otor Kingdom.
Okoefe I, refused to identify with the traditional beliefs of the Kingdom, having been converted to Christianity.
It was claimed that the Vicar was responsible for converting the Monarch to become a Christian and for standing by him in prayers which allegedly led to the death of one of the “festival priests” which immediately triggered the Wednesday mayhem, which led to the attack of the Vicarage
The hoodlums invaded the Anglican Church Vicarage, raped the thirteen year old girl, destroyed the cleric house properties and also razed down a vehicle belonging to the Joint Task Force (JTF), police in the front of the Monarch’s palace.
The Police area commander, Ughelli assistant commissioner of police ACP Awosika Awotinde told Journalists that forty-four persons were in police net in connection with the orgy of violence. The hooligans also set ablaze a police patrol vehicle. They were charged to court last Monday and on remand.
According to a source, they wanted the Ovie to make sacrifice to the deity, but he refused saying he is a Christian and they should go ahead without him contributing money or cooking for them during the feast, as some of the priest and chiefs demanded.
His refusal to take part in the feast infuriated the hooligans, who vowed to foment trouble and they executed their mission on Wednesday, the last day of the feast, supported by some palace chiefs.
A community leader said, the miscreants engaged in raping of women, married or single, since the festival which is held once every 15 years started on 27th of March.
After the Vicarage was vandalised, they invaded the shop of the Queen Mother of Agbarha-otor and raided her shop: They stole wines and practically every other thing in the shop and set it ablaze, destroying sets of speakers, television set, refrigerator and drinks as well as large sum of money.
This is not the first time hoodlums in the name of Ekene festival have been molesting innocent people. In the Urhobo Peoples Forum, a Facebook interactive blog, one Mr. John Miles Wanogho narrated how he narrowly escaped being killed by some hoodlums during the festival.
According to him, a few days when the festival began, he left Port Harcourt accompanied by his immediate younger brother to meet their father in Orogun on an urgent matter. He explained that on reaching Ughelli main town, they decided to go and check on his brother’s friend, who took them in his car for their village since they used public transport from Port Harcourt.
“It was as we were embarking on this short trip from Ughelli main town to Orogun, that we had this ugly and most unfortunate experience with some uncivilized, primitive, callous, barbaric and inhuman humans”
He said further, that while driving through the main road in Agbara-otor, they saw from a safe distance, a wrapper wrapped around a somewhat triangle-like object, standing about 20 feet tall. “We inquired to know what it was, though we perceived it is an idol. We were told by my brother’s friend who happens to be the one driving the car that they just finished their juju festival and that the strange object represented the juju.”
“At that very moment, we decided to make a U turn and take another route to our ancient hometown (Orogun), when all of a sudden there appeared a young man beckoning on us to drive through. According to the man, it is safe to drive through the side of the road, since the juju is covering part of the road. We didn\'t know the chap in question was on a mission to lead us to a death trap.
“We, being ignorant of what the juju stands for, the dos and don\'ts, felt it was okay to take some pictures to better narrate what we saw. We started taking some shots, and while we were on it, we weren\'t told to stop, that picture taking is sacrilegious to their juju. Before we could say Jack Robinson, some angry looking men, who obviously are jobless and uneducated, rushed up to us with bottles and stuffs and started giving us the beating of our lives. While they were at it, some of them said they should \'escort us\', which means they should take us to the evil forest and kill us. At this time they\'ve already \'discharged\' (stolen) our phones, iPad and wallets.
“At this juncture, what was running through my mind was the Aluu 4 experience, the innocent young men mobbed by similar persons like our unfortunate hosts. I got thinking, \"is this how I\'m going to leave this world? Am I going to die alongside my junior brother?\" At a point in time, I forgot about me, and I was thinking about my brother, and I was like, \"why did my brother make this journey with me?\"
“It was at this moment that there came a sudden twist in our ordeal. God changed the story, saying, \"You won\'t be killed on this resurrection morning\". Those that wanted to kill us started speaking a new language in our favour. They said we won\'t be killed anymore, but that we would have to pay for 3 goats, some strong wines, with which they would appease their god, the juju. And as God would have it, my bro had some reasonable amount on him, and we bought our lives back. “
Following this development, the Urhobo Times was told that the Vicar, Evangelist F.K. Usenu, who narrowly escaped being killed, as he was not at home when the vandals unleashed mayhem on his Vicarage has been withdrawn temporarily from Agbarha-Otor to Ughelli. The hoodlums claimed that the Evangelist’s prayers was responsible for the death of the “festival Priest”
The remote cause of the crisis which ended on Wednesday 10th April was the refusal of the traditional ruler to be part of the two weeks festival. The newly sworn-in Monarch, His Royal Majesty (HRM), Richard Oghenevwogaga Ebele Okoefe I, the Ovie of Agbarha-Otor Kingdom.
Okoefe I, refused to identify with the traditional beliefs of the Kingdom, having been converted to Christianity.
It was claimed that the Vicar was responsible for converting the Monarch to become a Christian and for standing by him in prayers which allegedly led to the death of one of the “festival priests” which immediately triggered the Wednesday mayhem, which led to the attack of the Vicarage
The hoodlums invaded the Anglican Church Vicarage, raped the thirteen year old girl, destroyed the cleric house properties and also razed down a vehicle belonging to the Joint Task Force (JTF), police in the front of the Monarch’s palace.
The Police area commander, Ughelli assistant commissioner of police ACP Awosika Awotinde told Journalists that forty-four persons were in police net in connection with the orgy of violence. The hooligans also set ablaze a police patrol vehicle. They were charged to court last Monday and on remand.
According to a source, they wanted the Ovie to make sacrifice to the deity, but he refused saying he is a Christian and they should go ahead without him contributing money or cooking for them during the feast, as some of the priest and chiefs demanded.
His refusal to take part in the feast infuriated the hooligans, who vowed to foment trouble and they executed their mission on Wednesday, the last day of the feast, supported by some palace chiefs.
A community leader said, the miscreants engaged in raping of women, married or single, since the festival which is held once every 15 years started on 27th of March.
After the Vicarage was vandalised, they invaded the shop of the Queen Mother of Agbarha-otor and raided her shop: They stole wines and practically every other thing in the shop and set it ablaze, destroying sets of speakers, television set, refrigerator and drinks as well as large sum of money.
This is not the first time hoodlums in the name of Ekene festival have been molesting innocent people. In the Urhobo Peoples Forum, a Facebook interactive blog, one Mr. John Miles Wanogho narrated how he narrowly escaped being killed by some hoodlums during the festival.
According to him, a few days when the festival began, he left Port Harcourt accompanied by his immediate younger brother to meet their father in Orogun on an urgent matter. He explained that on reaching Ughelli main town, they decided to go and check on his brother’s friend, who took them in his car for their village since they used public transport from Port Harcourt.
“It was as we were embarking on this short trip from Ughelli main town to Orogun, that we had this ugly and most unfortunate experience with some uncivilized, primitive, callous, barbaric and inhuman humans”
He said further, that while driving through the main road in Agbara-otor, they saw from a safe distance, a wrapper wrapped around a somewhat triangle-like object, standing about 20 feet tall. “We inquired to know what it was, though we perceived it is an idol. We were told by my brother’s friend who happens to be the one driving the car that they just finished their juju festival and that the strange object represented the juju.”
“At that very moment, we decided to make a U turn and take another route to our ancient hometown (Orogun), when all of a sudden there appeared a young man beckoning on us to drive through. According to the man, it is safe to drive through the side of the road, since the juju is covering part of the road. We didn\'t know the chap in question was on a mission to lead us to a death trap.
“We, being ignorant of what the juju stands for, the dos and don\'ts, felt it was okay to take some pictures to better narrate what we saw. We started taking some shots, and while we were on it, we weren\'t told to stop, that picture taking is sacrilegious to their juju. Before we could say Jack Robinson, some angry looking men, who obviously are jobless and uneducated, rushed up to us with bottles and stuffs and started giving us the beating of our lives. While they were at it, some of them said they should \'escort us\', which means they should take us to the evil forest and kill us. At this time they\'ve already \'discharged\' (stolen) our phones, iPad and wallets.
“At this juncture, what was running through my mind was the Aluu 4 experience, the innocent young men mobbed by similar persons like our unfortunate hosts. I got thinking, \"is this how I\'m going to leave this world? Am I going to die alongside my junior brother?\" At a point in time, I forgot about me, and I was thinking about my brother, and I was like, \"why did my brother make this journey with me?\"
“It was at this moment that there came a sudden twist in our ordeal. God changed the story, saying, \"You won\'t be killed on this resurrection morning\". Those that wanted to kill us started speaking a new language in our favour. They said we won\'t be killed anymore, but that we would have to pay for 3 goats, some strong wines, with which they would appease their god, the juju. And as God would have it, my bro had some reasonable amount on him, and we bought our lives back. “
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