THE family of late Onochie Obodo Ijeh of Ogbe-Obi Quarters, Issele-Azagba, Aniocha North Local Government Area, Delta State, is now in disarray as a spiritually-inclined uncle, Ijeh Pius Akpor, has vowed to eliminate the only son of his late brother, who refused to join the occult group.
The middle-aged man, Ijeh Michael Adimabua has reportedly fled the community for fear of his life, while his mother, Mrs. Franca Obodo Ijeh, has also relocated to a nearby village as a result of a series of threats to their lives by cultists because they are Christians.
The threat is a furtherance of the persecution which many Christians in Nigeria have been facing.
Family sources told journalists in Asaba, Delta State capital, that trouble started in the family before the demise of Michael’s father, Onochie Obodo Ijeh. According to the sources, the uncle, Pius Akpor Ijeh, had earlier approached the young Michael and attempted to lure him into joining the Ogboni Confraternity (an occult group), which he vehemently refused due to his Christian faith.
Due to persistent approaches, Michael informed his father, Onochie Obodo Ijeh, but nothing was done to the uncle because everyone in the family fears him because of his spiritual and occult powers, and social connections with security agents. However, the uncle intensified requests for Michael to join the confraternity or lose his life.
“The young man was told by his uncle that part of the condition to join the Ogboni Fraternity is that he will have regular sex with female dogs, and his sperm will be used for ritual to enrich him. He also told him that he was not going to get married because he will become impotent. All these are against his Christian faith”, the family source said. It was gathered that in the midst of the confusion and fear within the family, cultists invaded the home of the Ijehs in Issele-Azagba, looking for Michael to kidnap and kill him. They stormed the family house where they met him and his mother, Franca, and on learning that they are Christians, they descended on mother and son before Michael managed to escape. The young man escaped from the village and became a fugitive in neighbouring communities. From a fugitive life, he raised money and moved to Lagos, from where he escaped to Ukraine because the cultists have vowed to track him anywhere he is hiding because their members are spread all over the country.
Michael was in foreign land when his father died in 2022 and he had no opportunity to participate in the burial or paying a last respect.
A community leader, Chief Felix Onyemali, who spoke to the press, recently, disclosed that cultists have continuously invaded the community in search of Michael and have threatened to forcefully initiate him as a cultist or kill him, adding that the persecution will continue until he surrenders.
