Understanding
The Okija Shrine Phenomenon And
The Art Of Mental Poisoning
By Emmanuel
U Obi For
those who have not followed the events at Okija shrine, I will try to
recap very briefly the gist of what was discovered at Okija shrine.
Following a tip off, a team of Police men led by the Anambra State
Commissioner of Police Felix Ogbaudu visited the Okija shrine where they
made some gruesome discovery. Headless bodies, human corpses, skulls,
and a register of names were found at the various shrines in Okija. The
Okija shrine is a place
where people with disputes in their personal transactions have gone for
adjudication by the gods. The guilty party usually died within a year
and the priests at the shrine would demand the dead body and all
material possessions of the victim which included millions of naira.
Notable amongst the clients of this shrine were the late Chief Victor
Okafor a.k.a Ezego who reportedly had a dispute with one Nzeribe a
member of the House of Representatives. Ezego died in a ghastly motor
accident believed to have been caused by the gods. His body was amongst
those discovered by the Police and according to the Police it had a very
conspicuous name tag. Apart from the dead body, the family of the
deceased was ordered to turn over millions of naira owned by the
deceased or the gods would visit their anger on the living which the
family of the deceased complied with. But
the Police have a different version. According to the Police, only the
richest of the party in the dispute is always guilty. The agents of the
shrine trailed the individual and placed poison or charms on their cars
while some were forced to drink some concoction after which the person
died. The leader of the chief priests happens to be a certain Ndukwu who
reportedly owns property in In
response to this discovery, the Secretary General of the Igbo cultural
organization, Ohaneze ,Colonel Achuzia accused the Police of trying to
ridicule the Igbos and their tradition. A number of notable Igbos have
distanced themselves from the views of Achuzia. Again
writing under the title ‘Okija: The Politics of Shrines’ one
Theophilus Abbah in the Sunday PUNCH of August 15,claims the Okija
shrine is a secret cult and goes on to cite the constitutional
provisions that barred cult members from Government. The insinuation is
that Governor Ngige and other government functionaries that patronized
the shrine are cult members. This gross display of ignorance and
irresponsible journalism is the bane of Nigerian journalism that has
encouraged every thing that is bad in the Nigerian society as well as
mis-inform the people. Traditional
religion has been painted in bad light and the purpose of this article
is to examine the aspects of religion that is involved and
try to differentiate the practices under Police scrutiny and
authentic traditional religion. For
a detailed account of how the shrine operates as narrated by one of the
suspects detained by the Police, read ‘How
Okija Shrine Operates’ http://www.thisdayonline.com/news/20040814news01.html The
crucial issues I will consider are; ü
African traditional
Religion ü
The threat of retribution on victims and the Police ü
The criminality of the activities at the shrine. African
Traditional Religion and Christianity
The
Secretary-General of Ohaneze, Colonel Achuzia has genuine concerns but
unfortunately failed to articulate the reasoning behind his claim that
the Police was out to ridicule the Igbos. Religion is the belief in a
superhuman controlling power and African traditional Religion has been
in conflict with Christianity perhaps largely because people do not
understand the common grounds that African traditional religion and
Christianity have. It is against the background of this misunderstanding
that often time’s African traditional religion has been erroneously
described as heathen, demonic or incompatible with Christianity. The common grounds that traditional religion have with Catholicism include belief in a Supreme Being, (Chukwu, Allah, Olodomare) symbolism and imagery (archetypes), ritual, worship and sacrifice. Symbolism
and imagery in traditional religion include the carved statues housed in
shrines, the veves traced on the ground in voodoo religion etc. In the
Catholic Church it includes the crucifix, images of saints, statues of
saints and angels. Do
adherents of traditional religion and Catholics worship the images and
statues? No. The purpose of these symbols is to raise the consciousness
of the practitioner to a higher level where they may attune with the
energy or deity. So more or less the images are like an aid to assist
the practitioner. Ritual means a prescribed order of performing rites
e.g. baptism, marriage, church Service,
the proceedings at a traditional shrine etc. What then is a shrine? An
altar, a temple, a place sacred to a deity or saint etc. For example we
have the shrine dedicated to Madonna, etc and other shrines in the
church.
Hence, Christians and traditionalists engage in worship at their respective shrines. An important aspect of Christianity is sacrifice. Christ gave his life so that humanity may be saved. In the church, this sacrifice is commemorated by the celebration of the Eucharist by using the Bread and Wine to symbolize the body and blood of Christ; again symbolism. Human blood is not used in Christian shrines or ceremonies although in some white garment churches which practice a mixture of occultism and Christian sacrifice the blood of animals. The sacrifice of human beings is in the realm of black magic and criminal, which requires the attention of the Police. In
the shrine of Catholics it is common to find sacrifice made to the
saints urging them to intercede on their behalf to the supreme or urging
them to do some favors for them much the same way the traditionalists
asks the arusi or orisha for help. An
arusi could be an elemental spirit created by thought forms generated by
human beings and established firmly on the spiritual planes and fed
constantly through ritual and sacrifice. An arusi could also be a
representation of a being on the celestial hierarchy much like angels
e.g. Amadioha The
slaves who were shipped from An
interesting aspect is CHANGO a male god syncretized as Saint Barbara,
which is female. Praying
against one’s enemies is nothing new in society. Others prefer the hit
man and in a developed society later grapple with a sophisticated law
enforcement and criminal justice system. Others prefer to use spiritual
means to get even with their enemies instead of dealing with the
agonizing experience of the
justice system. In big cities in the Sacrifice
in Christianity no longer involves blood which was done once through
crucifixion. Today, sacrifice is done through burning of candles,
perfumes, holy oils, wine, grape juice, saraka etc. Traditional religion
still uses animal sacrifice and so do white garment churches. Anything
that involves human sacrifice is not only Black Magic but a crime. Any
concoction administered to an individual by an unlicensed practitioner
is also a crime if it results in tragedy or any kind of loss. It
should however be noted that those who believe in the Arusi Okija have
to go there physically which is a big limitation. Chukwu is omnipresent;
everywhere and you can pray to God anywhere. You can also seek the
assistance of divine messengers anywhere. Those
who care may consider the statement. ‘I am the brilliant and morning
Star’ with ‘Anyanwu ututu’ of the traditionalist to see if both
religions could be compatible. There
is a very thin line between what is possible and superstition. Most
Africans are still very superstitious and through mental poisoning
harbor thoughts that enslave. A
key element in mental poisoning is ‘FEAR’. Dr H. Spencer Lewis in
his book ‘Mental Poisoning’ explained the processes by which
individuals allowed themselves to be poisoned mentally and thus wreck
havoc on themselves. Dr
Harvey Spencer Lewis dedicated this book to ‘the thousands of
unfortunate men and women who have fallen prey to the poisoned darts of
subtle, sordid, destructive suggestions. May this work be the means of
making thousands of other humans immune to this noxious influence’ This
can now explain why the chief priests would label or attach nametags to
the victims of the Arusi. - To instill FEAR in the minds of their
victims, weaken and make them very vulnerable to their tricks of
extortion. The same goes for the Registers which is another tool used to
convince new or stubborn
clients and instill fear in them. The
established Churches have a great challenge here as it appears some of
their flock have lost confidence in them Oath
taking and Pacts
An
effective oath can be administered by a Christian minister in apostolic
succession. For example, Ministers in the Roman Catholic Church, and
Anglican Church. There
are other individuals who will simply say ‘My Word is my Bond’ and
mean it and are known for it. There are also those who need to make a
pact with God and do so in their own privacy while others deem it fit to
make a pact with devil and at their own peril.
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