By CHUKWUJEKWU ILOZUE, Awka

Chief Priest of Otumoye, a dreaded deity in Onitsha, has warned that the deity has sent a warning to those who are encroaching on its land that death awaits them if they don’t retrace their steps.

The deity is situated along the bank of Nwangene river at Fegge, Onitsha, Anambra State.

The Chief priest, Omodi Obiora Nzekwu (Diokpa), recalled, “Some years ago, the then Onitsha Local Government Area, wanted to use a portion of the premises of the deity for a stadium without due consultation to the deity and in anger the deity made a caterpillar and a bulldozer used for the project along with some staff of the council to plunge into the river and were never seen or recovered till today.”

Nzekwu said that the deity has warned that a similar calamity would be meted on its land grabbers unless they leave it alone.

He lamented that “to stop the encroachment we raised some fund, built barriers and renovated the shrine to help protect the shrine premises from land grabbers as we don’t want anybody to die or be deformed by the deity.

“So, today with the renovation the shrine has worn a new look because for about 50 years now there was no protection/renovation of the premises which attracted encroachers without knowing that the wrath of the deity would fall upon them.

“It is opening a new era today for the Otumoye shrine. You can see the dance group/ drum beaters and other stakeholders, all dressed in white which means purity. Only pure people come to this shrine,” he said.

He said Otumoye deity is not meant for indigenes of Onitsha alone but all the people so long they come for their problem to be solved.

“The deity gives child to the childless and fights for those suppressed,” he claimed.

Nzekwu said it is dangerous for people to encroach on Otumoye land saying, “In the past those that encroached on the shrine received severe punishment from the deity. It is fraud for the Ministry of Land and Survey to issue Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) to people without compensation to the owners of the land.”

“We don’t want to spill blood because there will be repercussions against those who encroach on our land.

“We fought National Inland Waterways Authority, NIWA, and others but when the NIWA MD, George Muoghalu, came on board he changed the position by recognising the host community as owners of the land and told encroachers to go through the host community. NIWA has told the state government that Federal Government owns the land along the creek and not state,” he stated. (Daily Independent)

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