The Chief Priest of Owerri (Spiritual Leader), Reginald Nwakom Ejiogu, has lambasted the management of Alvan Ikoku Federal College of Education, AIFCE, Owerri, for donating football kits to Owerri youths, under the guise of appeasing the gods of the land for the killing of Eke Nworie (Python), by its students.
Speaking at his Ihu Ala Owerre Shrine in Owerrri, on Tuesday, the angry Chief Priest, took a swipe at the management of Alvan for resorting to donating football kits and jerseys to the youths of Owerri, as a means of placating the gods of the land.
His words “This is unacceptable. You don’t appease the gods of the land for killing an ancestral python with mere football kits.
“Alvan students had committed a serious sacrilege by killing the Eke Nworie python and the management of the institution, should do the needful by appeasing the gods in a proper way.
“The consequences of killing that python are grave. Such consequences may not occur now, but will certainly happen. It is unavoidable. I have done all I can to make them understand the calamity that looms ahead if they fail.
“I had informed them (Alvan Management) severally on how to placate the gods over the killing the Eke Nworie python. There are necessary rituals and sacrifices to be carried out and they must adhere to it. It is the norm. Donating football kits to our youths is not a ritual to appease the gods for killing Eke Nworie”
In July 2021, students of Alvan had killed the Eke Nworie python said to be a deity and an act considered to be a sacrilege within the norms and tradition of Owerri people.
In a letter to the management of Alvan signed by the Chief Priest, the College management must appear before him (the Chief Priest) for cleansing upon receipt of the Notice”
“The murder of the python is a sacrilege and violation of our culture” part of the letter stated.
This newspaper was informed that a similar incident had occurred in 1979, when the killing of an ancestral python, Eke Ala Owerre, by some white contractors who were constructing the Wethedral/Christ Church road, Owerri, led to the breakdown of their equipment and mysterious deaths, until an appeasement was carried out.
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