By Izunna Okafor, Awka
Some villagers have allegedly stripped a widow naked, assaulted her, and dragged her to four different shrines in Anambra State to swear oaths.
The incident reportedly happened at Umueri Community in Anambra East Local Government Area of the State, where the suspects also allegedly assaulted two sons of the widow and also invaded their home with machete and dagger.
Recounting her ordeal in a video that is currently trending on the social media, the victim, Mrs. Obiageli Nnalue, said she was at her home when the gang stormed with a vehicle, broke into her house, and began to pack her property into the vehicle.
She said she was full of surprise, that she began to question them about what was happening and where they were taking her belongings to.
“As I asked them that, they bounced on me and began to beat me, tore all my clothes, stripped me naked, and insisted that I must follow them to shrines to go and swear oaths that I would never behold whatever would cause their death,” she recounted in Igbo language.
She said from there, they dragged her to four shrines, including Oviemmili, Ogwugwu Ụmụdiala, Akpụ Mgbago and Arọ Mgbago Shrines, to go and swear the oaths.
According to her, she was also forced to swear separate oaths for some other villagers who joined them on the way. She said when she attempted to resist the intimidation, they also joined hands to beat and molest her, while also vowing to send her back to her hometown, Nteje, Oyi Local Government Area.
Mrs. Nnalue further recounted how one of her tormentors claimed that her husband’s kinsmen said they were no longer interested in keeping her as wife, and also provided the sum of N50,000, for them to transport her and her belongings back to her hometown, Nteje.
When asked what could have triggered such actions by the people, the victim recounted that one of her sons, identified as Somadina Nnalue (who is challenged), was accused of rape, and was stripped naked and severely assaulted and maltreated by the people, who also eventually demanded the sum of N10,000 to release him. She said even after paying the demanded amount, the people still declined to release her son, until one Amaechi paid them additional money.
While speculations abound that her challenged son may have been wrongly accused, victimized and extorted by the people; Mrs. Nnalue said it was shortly after the incident that the people stormed her house and began to demand that she must swear oaths that she would not behold whatever would cause their death.
Corroborating the narration, another son of the widow who resides in Onitsha, Mr. Henry Nnalue, recounted how the people also bounced on him, attacked and injured him with machete and dagger when he returned back from Onitsha after hearing what they did to his mother and his younger brother.
He noted that the people had previously called and issued life threats to him on the phone, warning him not to dare come back to Umueri, especially over the matter they had with their mother. He further recounted how the gang invaded their home the second time and chased his mother around with machete, with which they also attacked him when he attempted to resist them.
While this reporter, Izunna Okafor, gathered that the matter had been reported to the Anambra State’s Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Welfare, his efforts to get the reactions of the Ministry’s Commissioner, Mrs. Ify Obinabo, on the matter proved abortive, as calls to her phone bounced back, while she was yet to respond to the text message of enquiry sent to her by this reporter, as at the time of this publication.
Watch the video below:
