An
altercation has ensued between members of the Pentecostal Fellowship of
Nigeria, PFN, and Umuoji community in Idemili North Local Government
Area of Anambra State over the killing of a snake in the community by
the Overseer of the Mercy Throne Assembly, Umuoji, Rev Jude Chubueze.
The
community believes Chibueze had desecrated the land by killing the
snake, as snake killing in the area is a taboo, and they had gone ahead
to seal his church with palm fronds.
The
matter has been taken to the Anambra State Police command which is
trying to mediate between the two parties to avoid a breakdown of law
and order, and assure a peaceful resolution to it.
Reacting
on the issue, members of PFN under the aegis of Umuoji Gospel
Ministries Fellowship led by Pastor Celestine Ekpunobi, yesterday,
described the tradition that forbids the killing of snake as barbaric,
adding that such law should only concern the pagans.
Rev
Chibueze said a snake stormed his house at night when members of his
family were already sleeping. He said he heard his children screaming
and rushed there to find a snake where his children had been sleeping.
“When
I got to their room, I saw a big snake lying with them and I had to
kill it and threw it into the nearby bush. The following day, some
community members marched to my house and accused me of killing their
god. They beat me up mercilessly.
“They
wrote a list of items amounting to N54,890 which they said I should buy
to appease their god. Being a Christian, I told them that it is against
my faith and more over, I killed a snake and not a human being.”
One
of the community leaders, Chief Paul Edekobi said, instead of the
pastor doing what he earlier agreed to do with the community by
providing the items, he dragged them to Ogidi Police Station where six
of the community leaders were arrested.
The
Chief threatened that what he did was capable of wiping out his entire
family if sacrifices were not made to appease the gods.
“We
do not want to destroy his property and that is why we used the palm
fronts to tie round the church to stop him from worshipping there for
now,” Edekobi said.
But
the pastor said: “What they are talking about is not tradition; they
see the killing of a snake as a taboo in their world of idol worshipping
and not same in Christian faith
“If
they do not desist from this act, our next port of call will be the
court for the enforcement of our fundamental human rights.”
No comments:
Post a Comment