HARVEST OF DEATHS · Two years after man died following cassava meal, his three children suffer same fate

By SUNDAY ANI (NICHSUNNY@YAHOO.COM)

For two years, the Ezeugwu family of Amokwu-Enu Obukpa in Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu State has been harvesting deaths. In 2011, the head of the family, My Lawrence Ezeugwu, a senior driver with the University of Nigeria Nsukka, died after eating a cassava meal suspected to be poisoned. Three months later, his son, Chinedu, was assassinated.

In July this year, three of his children also died after eating a cassava meal and one of his wives, was suspected to be responsible for the deaths. On July 30, 2013, the woman was accused of killing three of her step-children through food poisoning. The traditional investigation method adopted by the community had implicated her as the brain behind the deaths. She protested against the outcome of the investigation, insisting she was innocent. However, nobody gave her a chance. She could have lost her life in the process, as the youth of the community demanded for her head.

The embattled woman escaped unhurt physically, but psychologically, she had been bruised. She was allegedly banished alongside her three children from her husband’s village.

The story of how three children of the same mother died after eating a cassava meal at Amokwe-Enu Obukpa in Nsukka Local government Area of Enugu State struck the University Town like an earthquake. The three children, Ikenna, Chinecherem and Nnenna Ezeugwu were said to have developed some stomach problems after eating cassava meal in July, and eventually died.

Their mother, Mrs Anthonia Ezeugwu was said to have travelled to Onitsha, Anambra State, where she had gone to look after one of her daughters who was newly delivered of a baby. She was reported to have said that her children were certainly poisoned because she took a portion of the same cassava flour to her daughter’s house in Onitsha and they had eaten it and nobody had any problem. She also said she had eaten from the same cassava flour with her children before she left for her daughter’s house in Onitsha.

Like father, like children

Madam Anthonia had earlier lost her husband, Mr Lawrence Ezeugwu in a similar circumstance in 2011. Lawrenece, a senior driver with the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, was said to have died in 2011 in a mysterious and controversial circumstances after eating a cassava meal suspected to have been poisoned. Madam Anthonia was also reported to have lost her first son, Chinedu, to assassins three months after her husband’s death. Her son was allegedly trailed by his assailants from his village to 9^th Mile Corner Enugu where he was working before his death.

The deaths of the trio: Ikenna, Chinecherem and Nnenna were seen as one death too many by the entire Amokwe-Enu Obukpa people. As a result, the entire village was said to have resolved to adopt the traditional fact-finding methodology to unravel the brain behind the unfortunate happenings. The late Lawrence was said to have married three wives. According to the report, the three wives were asked to bring their people to represent them in the fact-finding mission. They were said to have consulted a native doctor at Ugbene-Ajima in Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area of Enugu State, who after series of incantations and consultation with the spirit, declared one of them guilty.

When our reporter visited the bereaved mother, Madam Anthonia, she kept mum at the question thrown at her, starring hopelessly into thin air. When she spoke, her voice was so vague and empty; she was just murmuring. All efforts to make her recount the story proved abortive as she insisted that she had consigned everything to fate, adding that even if she recounted the story a hundred times, her dead children would never come back to life again.

Determined to make her say something, our reporter asked her what the police had done since the incident and she said: “All I know is that the children were buried after they were dead; I didn’t know what was happening at that time, but since then, nobody has told me anything.”

Further checks revealed that the children were buried without any police investigation because the matter was never reported to the police. Asked if she had any problem with the accused before the incident, she said: “Is there any time that women are not in quarrelling terms? But, I didn’t expect her to kill my children because of the normal everyday squabbles among women especially those sharing one man as husband.”

The accused opens up   

When our reporter traced the accused to her village, it took the intervention of one of her cousins before she could speak. She was visibly angry as she thought our reporter was sent by the Amokwe-Enu Obukpa people to find out if she was still there, as she said there had been rumours flying about town that she had disappeared to an unknown destination. When she was sure that our reporter was not sent by anybody from her husband’s village, she calmed down and poured out her hearts amidst tears.

Narrating how her 17-year-old marriage ended in banishment, she said: “That day, I came back from Nkwo Ibagwa market and prepared my own food which I ate. The following day, which was Eke day, one of the dead children, Nnenna, passed by me as I was going to harvest palm fronds and told me she was going to buy pap. When I came back, I got prepared to attend a funeral ceremony of a friend’s husband, but while I was there, I got information that my husband’s first wife, Anthonia, had been looking for me. When I came back, I met Nnenna’s dead body on the bed. I cried bitterly but on seeing that others were critically down, I suggested that taking them to the hospital would be the best thing in order to save their lives. They were rushed to the medical centre where both of them later died. When we came back, we were all crying and mourning but I didn’t know that the worst was yet to come.

“Two days later, one Hyginus came to inform me that we, the wives of late Lawrence Ezeugwu were needed at the house of the eldest man in the community, Anthony Eze. When we got there, we were told to send for our fathers or people who would represent us because the community had decided to take us before a spiritualist to find out who was responsible for the death of the children. My father is already dead but I sent for somebody who acts in his stead.”

Journey to the spiritualist’s home

Still sobbing with heavy heart, she continued: “On that day, July 30, we all left for the place at Ugbene Ajima in Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area of Enugu State. But even when we were going, some people were shouting that they already knew who was responsible, stressing that if the outcome of the investigation turned out otherwise, they would not accept it. But within me, I knew I was not responsible; so I didn’t shake even though, I wasn’t on eating terms with them.

“When we got there, we waited for our turn. There was a wine which they said whoever felt she was innocent should drink; I drank it like others because I knew I was innocent. One of my husband’s people went inside and connived with the spiritualist to implicate me. One person from my side even almost fought with him when he was protesting why he should tell them to write down my name when we were all there for an investigation. When it was our turn, we went in and the man did the abracadabra and said I was guilty; I told him I was not guilty. I even told him to his face that somebody had bribed him to implicate me. As we were coming back, they were rejoicing, booing and cajoling me that the oracle had proven me guilty and so it shall be.”

Back to Amokwe-Enu Obukpa

Having pronounced the woman guilty by the spiritualist, tension rose high and the entire community wanted her buried alive. Not even her entreaties to consult two or three other spiritualists from other places could assuage the anger of the community as the big hammer finally fell on her when she was banished from the land alongside her three children.

On what followed the Ugbene-Ajima pronouncement, she said: “When we came back, I told them that I didn’t believe the outcome of that investigation and demanded that we went to two or three other places for further investigations. Even the eldest man told them that a matter like this needed to be properly investigated by visiting different diviners before concluding but they disagreed with him and insisted that my head must be cut off. They said I would be buried alive; I was whisked away and hidden inside the eldest man’s house and from there, I was bundled to my village the next day, July 31 around 5am. The entire community escorted me amidst booing and cajoling. They warned that my children and I should never step our feet in Obukpa community from that day. They also said they had rejected my children.”

What her people did thereafter

Did the people of Edem Iheakpu-Awka, the accused ancestral home fold their arms and watch their daughter disgraced? She said: “Two days later, my people led a delegation to the traditional ruler of Obukpa community, Chief Everestus Eze, pleading that more investigations be carried out on the matter. Chief Eze sent for my husband’s people and they said they should be allowed to bury the children first because their mother’s condition. After the burial, all efforts at Igwe’s palace to explore other avenues for further investigations into the matter were in vain. They stood their ground that my children and I remained banished from the Obukpa land.”

Personal efforts to prove her innocence  

When her relatives’ moves to involve the Chief Eze for further investigation failed, the woman took up the matter all alone just to prove her innocence. On what she did, she said: “I have sworn before nine shrines to prove my innocence. And my stand is that if I am responsible for the death of the three children or my husband or Anthonia’s first son as alleged, I should die. But before I die, I should be made to go naked in the market place, confessing that I was responsible for all the deaths. But, if I am not responsible for the deaths, those who deliberately accused of the crime I know nothing about should equally face the same punishment I should have received if I were guilty. And each shrine demands a cow for appeasement after its work. I don’t have a kobo here because I have spent every kobo I have to prove my innocence through the oath.”

The distraught woman, whose 17-year-old marriage produced a boy and a set of twin girls, said it was from the newspaper publication that she learnt of her alleged banishment. She alleged that two of her husband’s relations signed that her children were no longer from Obukpa community.

“I had only three children; a boy and a set of twin girls. And the boy has not come back since the incident because they had warned him never to come back to his father’s house again. Both God and man will bear me witness. Whoever that is responsible for this false accusation will have to contend with the oracle because my hands are clean and I have surrendered everything to the oracle; I am innocent,” she submitted.

Accused cousin reacts

However, one of the woman’s cousins, Stephen Ugwuoke, who convinced her to open up, also spoke on behalf of the entire Ugwuoke Ori’s family. He said: “Before I knew what was happening, they had gone to the diviner who said it was Philomena that poisoned the children. But, I learnt that her husband’s people went a day before the D-day to consult with the diviner and to influence him to implicate Philomena. Our people who went there protested when one of her husband’s relatives went to the diviner’s secretary to give him her name, but because we don’t believe in poisoning people in our family, we still allowed the diviner to do his work, which turned out against our sister.

“Edem Iheakpu-Awka people don’t kill human beings. When they came back and the community was boiling to bury Philomena alive, I personally went to the chairman of their community’s vigilance group to tell him that Philomena is my sister and that she should be spared until she was properly proven guilty. He instructed his men to protect her but in the early hours of the next day; the Obukpa youth brought her back home, saying they no longer wanted her as a wife in their community.

“We then went to Igwe Obukpa and pleaded that the corpses should not be buried until the truth is revealed after we had visited two or three other spiritualists. We even accepted to foot all the expenses provided the truth was known. But, they (her husband’s people) refused and buried the corpses; circulating the news that Philomena poisoned the children.”

What we did

Speaking further, he said: “We, as a family have organised our own investigation by consulting different diviners but we have found out that our sister is innocent. So, we have approached two powerful oracles, Ezenna Okpo and Lolo Uhere, both in Iheaka, Igbo-Eze South LGA, where we have made Philomena to swear just to prove her innocence. We took this step because the people rejected all our efforts to make further investigative consultations. They insisted on the outcome of the Ugbene-Ajima investigation alone to nail Philomena. So, she is waiting for the oracle to dispense justice accordingly. This series of steps were taken starting from August 1.”      

The woman’s 26-year-old first daughter, whom she bore in her father’s house before she got married, Celestina Ugwuoke also bared her mind on the matter. She corroborated what her mother and Stephen had earlier said. She said: “My mother was not in the house when the children prepared the alleged poisoned food they ate. The trouble started when my mother sent for us and we went there. They said my mother was only asked to send for her father or somebody who would represent her but she went ahead to send for so many people. They started saying that even the trip to Ugbene-Ajima was just a mere formality because they already knew who the culprit was. They even said that if the outcome of the traditional investigation proved otherwise, they would not accept it. I even approached one of them and asked him why they should say they have known the culprit even without consulting the diviner but he stood his ground. They said so many things before the Ugbene-Ajima trip.

“At the end, my mother was pronounced guilty but she rejected the outcome. Before they came back, the youth had gathered shouting that she must be buried alive. But, we told them that we needed to go to one or two other places for further investigation. Some of the boys were with guns, axes, gallons of fuel, hammer, cutlasses and shovels among others chanting war songs and angling for my mother’s head.

“We went to Igwe Obukpa’s palace and he said our stand on further investigation was good but when the local newspaper came out, his views were different. According to the story, he said my mother should have been stripped naked before she was sent back to her father’s house. He also said in that paper that it was the village masquerade that should have escorted her home and that was when we stopped going to his house for further solution.

“We sought for police protections to enable my mother go to the market square, Eke Owerre Obukpa, to swear publicly to prove her innocence but the police told us that unless we registered the case, they would not grant our request. We also requested for police protection to enable her go to her husband’s house to collect her property since they said they didn’t want her and her children again but the police told us the same thing, that unless the case was registered, there was nothing they could do. So, we decided to leave everything because we didn’t want to involve the police in the case. Our people did proper investigation and she was found innocent. The masterminds of her fate are his husband’s brothers who made love advances to her but because she rejected their advances, they framed her up in this manner.”  

Igwe reacts

When our reporter visited the palace of Igwe Obukpa, he said woman’s people visited him when the matter was raging and sought for further investigation, which he obliged. But, he said that when her husband’s people were ready, he sent for them and they never responded. He refuted the allegation that he said Philomena should have been stripped naked and escorted back to her father’s house by masquerades. He said: “They actually reported that they were not satisfied with the outcome of Ugbene-Ajima investigation. They said they wanted to do further investigation; at least two or three other places. They agreed to finance such further investigations. I promised to connect her husband’s people and I did. I connected the eldest man there, Anthony Eze and one of her husband’s brother, Hyginus and they came to my house. I told them what her people said and they agreed to that but insisted that it would be after the burial of the dead children. I told Philomena’s people that after the burial, I would send for them. So, after the burial, I informed them but they never came back again.”

On the accusation that the punishment meted out to her was minor, Igwe said: “Well, I didn’t say that. I only agreed with them that I would invite the other party which I did. We agreed to meet after the burial but when I sent for them, they never came back.”

Igwe is of the opinion that what killed the children could not have been the cassava flour but the soup. “Personally, I don’t think they were killed by the cassava meal. I suspect the soup because they ate the same cassava flour a night before the incident. It was the one they ate the next morning that killed them. So, I suspect that the soup was poisoned and not the cassava meal as most people think.”

On the banishment meted out to the woman and her children, he said: “I am not aware of that because I wasn’t there. But, the eldest man told me that it was for their safety that they were taken away from the village back to her father’s town. He said they were taken away around 2am in the morning to save them because the crowd that was angling for her head was terrifying. In fact, according to Mr Eze, they were smuggled out of the village for their safety. When our reporter visited the eldest man in his house, he got angry when asked what he knew about the banishment handed down to Madam Philomena and her children and declined any comment.