By Obinna Obioma
More facts have emerged about how a teenage boy of 18 years, Ugonna Benneth Uzohuo, a native of Oleme Ajafulem in Ofeahia Amaifeke community, Orlu Local Government Area of Imo State, Nigeria fled his community for fear of being killed.
Recall that on May 11, 2010, Ugonna who was born on the 14th October, 1992, was chosen to be the chief priest of the community’s most dreaded deity, “Arusi Ogidi”.
Being a devout Christian of the Catholic faith, who holds his religion dear to his heart and believes that the only way to God is through Jesus Christ, Ugonna was said to have told the community that he would not do that as it runs contrary to his religious belief.
This sparked off serious controversy in the Community.
According to reports, Some members of the community who felt insulted gave him the option of either serving as the chief priest of the deity or face the consequences, which most times involved death.
Our sources had disclosed that when the leadership of the community saw that all entreaties for the teenager to change his mind and serve the deity were not producing any positive results, they reported him to the police authorities in Orlu and accused him of indulging in homosexual activities.
The involvement of the security agents, we gathered, was to track Ugonna down, and possibly send him to jail, since being gay is against the law in Nigeria. It is a punishable offense in Nigeria and most often lands victims to jail . This, our sources added, was a ploy to persuade him to accept the mantle of Ogidi shrine.
Meanwhile, Ugonna’s father, Mr. Uchechukwu Kingsley Uzohuo, did not fold his arms waiting for his son to be sacrificed. Faced with those precarious situations, he intervened to save the life of his son. In a chat with our correspondent, Mr. Uzohuo revealed measures he had taken to get justice for his boy.
The aged man narrated to our correspondent, “The first thing I did was to report the matter to the police. Unfortunately, my kinsmen had gone there before me and labelled my son a homosexual. All attempts to make the police officers see reason with me proved abortive. Instead, they asked me to produce my son to answer allegations of gay relationships.
“The next thing I did was to apply for a court injunction to stop the community from using state apparatus to intimidate my family and force my son to serve Ogidi but the court preferred to hear the homosexuality matter brought against my son by the community. When I had exhausted every legal means, and fearing for my son’s life, I smuggled him out of the village to Asaba, Delta State”, Uzohuo explained.
However, it was reported that his family came under serious threat when some people from his village spotted Ugonna in Delta and reported his whereabouts to the community leaders. The embattled father of four said he called for assistance from his friend from a Neighbouring community, Mr. Christian Okonkwo, who lives in Cameroon. According to him, it was Mr. Okonkwo’s prompt intervention that saved Ugonna from the community’s wrath as he smuggled him to far away Cameroon, through the Calabar sea borders on September 18, 2010.
But, Okonkwo’s assistance did not go down well with the community. For three years, all seemed well for him and the young Ugonna until sometime in 2013, when the council of elders summoned him to appear before them in the village. He was allegedly told that he either produced Ugonna or he would be banished alongside his other family members.
The Cameroon-based businessman promised to send Ugonna back to them. However, Okonkwo returned to his village not long after and informed the king that the young man had escaped from his house after learning that he would be taken back to the village. Since Uzohuo’s family could not produce their son to obey the oracle, they were allegedly excommunicated from the village and their house burnt by angry youths.
In a video and pictures of the burnt house obtained by our reporter after the unfortunate incident, Ugonna’s mother, Mrs. Nwadi Uzohuo, lamented what was left of their living home. Showing journalists around the charred house recently, she said: “This is my bedroom, this is my husband’s house. This is what’s left of our home. We have been abandoned, rejected and rendered homeless. This is what you did to us Oleme. What’s our offence? Because my son refused to worship your idol?”, the inconsolable mother bemoaned her fate.
Efforts to get the traditional ruler, Eze Samuel Ohiri, and the community leaders to react to these allegations were unsuccessful as they vehemently refused to talk to the media.
When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, in Imo State, Mr. Vitalis Onugu, a deputy superintendent of police, denied knowledge of the event. He said: “We are not aware of such development. However, the command will investigate the matter and get back to you”, Onugu told our correspondent.
Today, Ugonna is still on the run and cannot come back to his village as that would amount to death except he would accept the offer of being the chief priest of Ogidi deity. The family is calling on the government and we’ll meaning Nigerians to come to their aide and ensure justice for them.
