Idenyi Abbah, a middle aged woman residing
at Anumajogwu, in Ogbadibo Local Government Area of Benue State has confessed
to killing her 8-year-old daughter, Enyanwu, because she wanted more children.
Currently held at the Ukwo
Police Station in Benue State, Abbah, who had one child for her husband, said
she became envious when he married a second wife in a quest for more children.
She then consulted a juju priest at Ikem in Anambra State, who allegedly asked
her to sacrifice her only daughter to the Awube goddess.
“I have been to every part of
the country, searching for pastors and native doctors that could help me out of
this problem, but have been told almost the same story, that my only daughter
was ‘ogbanje’ (witch) and had blocked my womb,” she said. “I had tried to avoid
the solution I got from one native doctor at Ikem; until my husband opted for
another wife. This move had forced me to do the wish of the gods by killing
Enyanwu.”
At the venue of the sacrifice,
near the Awube River, around midnight, the said juju priest allegedly arranged
for some young men who gang-raped Enyanwu before sacrificing her to the said
goddess, while her mother watched.
A resident of the area, who
gave his name as Okpe, claimed to have witnessed the murder from a hideout
while he was hunting at night; adding that he was powerless to stop the killing
because the young men were armed.
“They put their knives through
her neck after the mother had said some incantation,” he said. “They also raped
her before that.”
Okpe said he fled the scene and
reported the matter to the village head, who then alerted the police. When
police officers and residents of the community stormed the scene of the murder,
nobody was found and a search revealed Enyanwu’s mutilated corpse in a shallow
grave near the river.
Police authorities in the state
say a manhunt has been launched for the murderers and that Abbah will soon be
charged to court.
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