“Dem nail di chairs to di ground den use chain to chain all di chairs togeda for inside di house.
One section of di house get kitchen knives, wey dem pin for ground, different ones plus cutlass too. Some don rust and some dey brand new. Anoda side of di house, get dis big chain wey dem dey take dey toll big vehicles, e get different padlock all sizes wey dem lock on top am.” One of di eyewitnesses wey rush go di scene to take eye see wetin hapun afta tori break narrate give BBC Pidgin wetin e take eye see.
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Na early morning on Monday, 2, October, 2021 and youths for Eduoha community for Ahoada East local goment area of Rivers state bin gada afta alarm sound say dem catch one native doctor wey dem accuse say buy one pikin alive.
According to di eyewitness, na one drunk man wey bin enta bush to pee na im allegedly catch and confront di man wey bin don already bury di about three month old pikin and dey do incantation over am. E later begin drag di guy and make noise wey make community pipo gada.
Tori be say e hapun for early morning, around 1:00am on Monday.
As dem begin question di man wen dem gbab am, dem carry am go im house to check and na dia dem begin dey see tins.
Eyewitnesses say di man na popular pesin for di community wey build house, im name na ‘Mike Indiana’ and im don dey stay di community for years.
Dem say Indiana house dey fenced and nobody bin know wetin dey hapun inside. Dem also say e bin get wives and pikin.
Dem say na wen dem enter di compound see tins dem begin beat am. According to tori, na during di beating di man suddenly ‘disappear’ and dem no see am again. Some say e fit be say e manage to escape.
Di angry youths den light fire for di house and begin destroy am.
‘Fotos of pipo dem padlock full dia’
Fotos, different fotos of pipo scatter inside di man house. Fotos of men, women and even pikin dem, some dem paste ontop wall, some dem tie with padlock and some dem lock inside cage.
Dem also find tins like charms inside di house before youths begin destroy di house.
“Some pipo come and dem see dia loved ones dia pictures, most of dem don die, dem don die.
I see one picture of pesin wey I know, I even pick am carry im picture go give am, dat pesin bin don dey get issue with im leg, so many tins hapun dia, even me sef bin dey fear becos e get one particular cage with pesin picture, dem nail di pesin picture to one chair come put am inside cage, all dis kain of dog cage. dem come chain am come still use padlock to lock di chain.”
Meanwhile, tok-tok pesin for police for Rivers state Nnamdi Omoni say police don hear about di tori but dey wait for full briefing from di Ahoada area command.
‘Consulting native doctors common for di area’
Although e never really clear wetin hapun or who ‘Mike Indiana’ be, Eduoha community where di incident hapun fall under Orashi region wey dey made up of Ahoada East, Ahoada West and Ogba Egbema Ndoni local goment areas for Rivers State.
Tori be say di area dey popular as places wia pipo dey go consult native doctor and dat na why some pipo dey call am, ‘India’ sake of dis.
One pesin wey come for di area tori BBC Pidgin about how pipo dey report matter to juju shrines instead of to go police, court or oda alternative dispute resolution ways especially for di Orashi region of Rivers State. Dem dey call am Erisi or juju for di area.
Juju, wey sometimes dey known as vodoo or magic na ogbonge part of West African tradition and culture wey some pipo believe in and dey practice.
Michael Ahiazu wey from Omoku, Ogba Egbema Ndoni local goment area say im don experience am as im family don suffer di consequences of di Erisi/juju tradition.
E explain say in di first place, dis juju and shrines na ancestral tins wey forefathers make covenants with because of di traditional justice system, or for oda agreements like to make dem get great harvests for dia farm. But now, pipo don dey abuse am dey use am for fetish reasons and money making ventures and dis wan dey against di main purpose of such shrines.
“Our pipo believe say juju dey give quick justice because with just N300 kai-kai or one bottle of gin, dem fit go one shrine or just call one juju name or even speak to one tree like dat say if na me do dis tin, make e judge but if I dey innocent and dem dey accuse me falsely, make di juju also judge and clear im name.
But wetin dem no dey consider na di consequences of wetin dem do. Dem fit expect say di juju go show who actually do di wrong tin but dem no expect say na kill e go kill or tink say pesin go die.” Ahiazu tok.
