Angry residents of Igbo-Eze North Local Government Area of Enugu State stormed the Enugu State Government House on Tuesday, protesting the ritual murder of no less than nine women from different communities in the area.
The protesters, mostly women, who were clad in black and black alleged that chief priests of different deities in the area collaborated with the ritualists in carrying out the dastardly act.
Apart from the ritual killing, the women equally condemned forceful marriage of their daughters to deities.
They cited cases of Amachalla and Ugbaike communities, where two ladies – Victoria Ugwuanyi and Rosemary Ugwuanyi – were forcefully “married” to a deity called “Iyakpala Ugbaike.”
The chief priest of the deity is alleged to have also forced the daughter of a deceased man to marry him after claiming that the same deity killed the father of the girl.
The women holding palm leaves, pleaded with Governor Sullivan Chime to ban forceful marriages to deities in the council and to also prevail on security agencies to put an end to the ritual murder.
The petition they submitted to the Governor read in part, “We strongly appeal to Governor Sullivan Chime to look into the gruesome murders, investigate the cases with the aim of uncovering the perpetrators and bringing them to book.
“We also appeal for outright ban of any deity from forced marriage of our women as it violates sections 34 (1), 35 (1) and 42 (1) of the 1999 Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria and Africa charter on human and peoples’ rights”.
Some of the victims of the ritual killing include- Eucharia Abugu, Gloria Ugwoke, Caroline Mama, Ijeoma Onu and Mary Onu, all from Inyi community.
It was said that at Ikpamodo community, one Christopher Eya was murdered in cold blood in his house, same as Mabel Itodo of Okpo and a boy named Ntadinma Eze from Amaja community.
The list also included the wife of the traditional ruler of Igogoro that was kidnapped three months ago and had not been seen till date.
DailyPost gathered that efforts by the police to prosecute some of the suspects had always been foiled by some influential personalities in the area.
A source disclosed that some of the suspects were recently granted a controversial bail by the court, even though were standing trial for murder.
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