Ondo block maker lands self in trouble

… For putting fetish items in pupils’ gift packs

By WOLE BALOGUN

A man in Ondo State is currently explaining to the authorities why he enclosed a mysterious local pot, containing fetish objects in takeaway food packs meant for his daughter’s schoolmates. The man has since confessed that his action was to transfer the good fortunes of the school pupils to his daughter, who had just turned five, by diabolical means.

Investigations by Daily Sun revealed that the incident happened at Olodo-Faguwa, a sleepy town in Ile-Oluji/ Oke-Igbo Local Government Area of the state. Mary Victor, a primary school pupil (name of school withheld by us) had brought a Ghana-must-go bag stuffed with takeaway packs for her classmates. It was her fifth birthday celebration and as usual, her dad, identified as Mr. Victor Okene, had prepared the food and other gifts to be shared out to her classmates during the birthday party, as was the practice in the school.

That morning, Miss. Yetunde O. John, Mary’s class teacher, prayed for the birthday girl and blessed the takeaway packs and other gifts in the bulging bag. But a shocker was waiting for the young teacher. As she attempted to share out the packs, she suddenly saw a thick black cloth used to wrap another hard object that appeared like a small pot. Bewildered, the young lady raised the alarm to alert co-workers on the strange object she just found.

In no time, other teachers ran to her class to behold the odd object among the gifts. Someone quickly suggested that a cleric be called to pray over the object before an effort was made to unravel it. That was promptly done. Once the wrapped object was unveiled, the stunned teachers got more than they bargained for. They saw more strange objects, including cowries, a traditional black soap, a white egg and other unidentifiable things kept inside a black, small, earthen pot, staring them in the face. Still confounded by the strange gifts, they devised a means of luring Mary’s father to the scene.

They called Victor, telling him that his daughter fainted during her birthday celebration in the class and that he should report to the school immediately. Oblivious of what was going on, the man rushed down to the school. Then street urchins that had laid an ambush for him in the school premises swooped on him and started beating him. He would probably have been beaten to death but for the intervention of some elderly and enlightened men, who prevented the boys from killing him. The elders then reported the man to the police.

According to Miss John, when Victor saw the strange item among his daughter’s gifts, he was shocked. He reportedly made an effort to bolt while also muttering some incantations. But the young men refused to be overwhelmed. “We left all the items on ground as they were when I unpacked them before Mr. Victor arrived. Once he stepped into the classroom and saw the strange items, he was visibly shaken. He retreated and was mumbling what sounded like incantations, but we had already informed some tough boys in the neighbourhood, who immediately swooped on him and began to beat him so that he could confess his mission with the strange items.

But for some elderly men and journalists that intervened and prevented the boys from executing jungle justice on him, he would have been lynched,” the teacher disclosed. Expressing amazement at the development, Miss John recalled that Victor did not look like someone, who could hurt a fly. “He used to be a very quiet, easy-going and generous man. Nobody could imagine that he was capable of this kind of thing.

After finding out the strange items in the Ghana-must-go bag, we had to trick him to ensure that we got him because if he knew the real reason we invited him, he would have run away.” Asked if the matter was reported to the police, John said it was the intention of her proprietress to formally incident the case at the police station before it was hijacked by the boys. A resident of the community, who simply identified himself as Mojeed, disclosed that he led the team that would have lynched Victor.

He told Daily Sun his side of the story: “The man Victor is evil. He wanted to rob the innocent pupils of their fortune in life. He laced the gifts for his daughter’s classmates with some juju that would destroy the children’s destinies and render them useless in life. That is why we wanted him dead. He doesn’t deserve to live. But some elderly men called us to order and we handed him over to them so they could take him to the police. But we know that the police would only collect money from him and release him.”

Elijah, another resident and one of those, who had used clubs and other harmful objects generously on Victor also believed that the suspect deserved to be lynched. His words: “That evil man called Victor wanted to destroy the destinies of young pupils. Can he allow another person to destroy the life of his own daughter? What stupid question are you asking me about him? Can’t you see that we ought to kill him? If such a person lives, he will destroy the lives of many innocent children with juju.

Anyway, an elderly man rescued him and they took him to the police. We don’t know what has happened to him since then because we didn’t follow them to the station for fear that we might be arrested for trying to kill him.” Strange enough, checks by Daily Sun revealed further that the man at the centre of the strange development, Victor, had confessed to committing the sin. In a video recording done with a phone camera and made available to this reporter, the suspect said: “My name is Victor. I am from Edo State.

It is true that my daughter, Mary, who is a pupil in the school, brought the Ghana-must-go bag that contains the cake, gifts and the black native pot that contains the fetish items. The pot is one of the two pots I normally use for this juju. The items in the pot were given to me by a herbalist in Okene, Kogi State, for a juju that could make me successful. I usually prepare the concoction in the pot seven days before the birthday celebration of my daughter.

There were two pots. After all the necessary rituals, I would place a pot on top of the gifts and put the other under them and leave them there for seven days. But this morning, when my daughter wanted to start coming to school, I was in a hurry to go somewhere and I hurriedly removed the pot on top. I forgot to remove the one under. That is why the teacher found it.

“The juju was programmed to seize the fortune of any pupil that benefit from the sharing of the gifts and cake and such fortune would be diverted to me. But now that the concoction has been exposed, the juju is no longer effective. The children are free. Maybe, God just allowed me to be careless about it this time so that I would be exposed. I want them to forgive me so that God can forgive me.” Asked how long he had been into such diabolic practices, Victor said he started about two years ago when his wife and Mary deserted him.

“I was living in Ibadan before I relocated here. I started after Mary’s mother left me. A friend introduced me to it. Since then, I’ve established two block industries.” When Daily Sun called at one of Victor’s block industries, angry residents had stormed the place, wreaking considerable havoc. Workers were given the beating of their lives while the mob destroyed the structures and blocks. The Police Public Relations Officer in Ondo State, Adeniran Aremu, a deputy superintendent of police, said, however, he was not aware of the incident.