Tension is mounting in Orba, the hometown of the former governor of Enugu State, Rt. Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, following plans by a group of elders of the community to invoke the powers of dangerous deities in their quest to contain the gale of cultism that has been ravaging the area.

The group, known as Oha Orba, which has scheduled Sunday, August 20, 2023, for the invocation of the deity, has in the past, also been accused of selectively ostracizing leaders of the town.

The current move, it was gathered, is threatening to tear the ancient town, famous for commodities trading, apart, as youths and Christians in the town are threatening uprising should the group go ahead with the plot..

To prosecute the project, the Oha Orba group, we gathered, unilaterally imposed a levy of N100,000 on each of the seven communities that make up the town, while influential leaders of the community have allegedly induced to make personal donations towards the cause.

According to our source, who preferred to remain anonymous for fear of being ostracized by this group, prominent among those that have paid different amounts of money towards the invocation of the deity include; Hon. Cyril Okanya (Okadigbo) of Umu Okara, who was said to have paid the sum of N50,000.00; Chidi Martins Ugwu of Owerre-Eze Orba (N50,000.00) and one person whose name was simply given as “Budget,” whose contribution was said to be N50,000.

Also on the list of donors, our source revealed, is the President of Orba Udu Youths Assembly, whose contribution of N100,000, on behalf of the youths is threatening to cause crises, as members of the assembly have begun to ask why the president got the authorization to release the money.

The source revealed that the youths are not angry about efforts to contain cultism in the town, but are concerned that the effort is being led by a group of allegedly discredited elders, who failed to recognize the religious plurality of the town and the predominantly Christian population before embarking such a dangerous measure whose impact might linger in the town for generations. It was also gathered that many elders are being blamed for fuelling the same cultism they are pretending to eradicate.

He blamed the brewing crises on one Goddy Ugwueze, whom he said is the leader of the group and teleguides them to achieve his selfish objectives.

“The Oha Orba has become a criminal enterprise and is being manipulated by one character by the name of Goddy Ugwueze, who has no known means of livelihood other than stripping vulnerable people of their lands. He has been in this evil business of blackmail for a long time and would always claim he has the backing of the government, and I think the time has come for the government and the people to call his bluff and hold him to account,” he said.

“How can people be thinking this way in 2023,” a youth leader in the community said. How can a small group elders in a community sit and conclude that the best option in solving a social problem such as cultism is to invoke dangerous deities on young people? Do they know the implication? Do they even know how many of their children are members of secret cults and who would be dying or going mad mysteriously, I they go ahead with that evil plan?

Another member of the community who spoke, also on condition of anonymity, blamed the elders for the spate of secret cult activities ravaging the town and surrounding communities.

“The question I want to ask them is this,” he said, “Who is responsible for these cult activities? Is it not the same Oha Orba elders and their cohorts that are now talking about the invocation of deadly deities? What purpose have they served for the Orba people? While the other communities are making progress and telling good stories about themselves, a small group of people will impose themselves on our community and bringing bad name to us. Imagine how the world would laugh at us upon hearing the sort of solution people are prescribing against social problems in this age of technology”

When asked what the alternative solution should be, the source said the challenge facing the youths is poverty and unemployment, adding that those who are contributing money to invoke deities against the youths should provide employment for young people to work.

“The solution is not hard to come by, but unfortunately, these people are not thinking like adults. If the youths are productively engaged, do think they would have time for cult activities and violent crimes? The problem is that those who are behind this project are either wicked, ignorant, and themselves jobless. They do not mean well; they just want to swindle our people and we will not allow it,” he said.

He called on the Enugu State Government and the Catholic and Anglican Bishops of Nsukka Dioceses to call the group to order to prevent the situation from degenerating into full-scale unrest.

Update news