The Siege of 'Ember' Months

As we move towards the end of the year through the dreaded ‘ember’ months, the obvious scary happenings have begun to take place and they’re all inspired by either of two things – the desperation for cash and the thirst for blood.

For the former, it’s just people desperate to make money for the burgeoning season and for the later, it’s a desperate move to gather surplus blood sacrifice to fulfill evil supernatural purposes and appeasing of demons. Many times it’s a deadly combination of the two which results in ritual killers all out to make money from human blood sacrifices.

What is more shocking is the level of desperation.

Last Sunday, a band of gunmen stormed into a government hospital in Ado-Ekiti and demanded for day-old babies to be handed over to them. On learning that there were no babies they beat the staff to stupor… refusing to believe and annoyed that they had met a dead end.

Take note of these two things: One – they were demanding for day-old babies (they had a spec for what they wanted), Two – they got annoyed on discovering there were none available and beat up the staff (they were angry they got none). These are signs and pointers that they are desperate ritualists. Where else can you get a day-old baby?

Then last Friday, I was on my way back from a church workers meeting at around 8.30pm and had climbed the pedestrian bridge at Obanikoro bus stop to cross the Ikorodu road expressway. As I was descending on the other side which was close to Sheperdhill Baptist Church, I suddenly noticed a taxi was parked some distance away from the bus stop and some people stood near it. One of them was a gunman who was threatening the others with his weapon. He smacked a guy over the head and ordered him to get into the car. I hastily retraced my descent from the bridge and went back up, warning other pedestrians descending that there was a robbery taking place below.

The pedestrian bridge (right) where I was descending before I witnessed
the incident on the service lane (right side of the bridge)

Well, it looked like a robbery and at the same time like a kidnapping taking place because the next minute we checked the location, the taxi, all the victims and gunman were gone. Were they kidnapped or robbed? Whatever the case, a crime had just taken place.

The Ikorodu expressway sidewalks from Idiroko bus stop all the way down to Obanikoro bus stop have always been locations of crime scenes, especially when commercial motorcycles popularly known as ‘Okada’ were still in operation. Okadas in the past were well used by men of the underworld to rob people at the bus stops.  

I was unfortunate at one time to be a victim of Okada henchmen back then at Savoil bus stop which is before Anthony bus stop.  I was seeing wifey off who at that time was my fiancé. We stood at the bus stop at about 8.00pm when two motorcycles each carrying a gunman cornered us and dispossessed us of our mobile phones, cash and wifey’s bag.

A couple of years ago a friend of mine was killed at Idiroko bus stop because he was reluctant to surrender his laptop to robbers who accosted in the very early hours of the morning.

After the ban on Okadas by the government, the crimes seemed to reduce. Also with the rehabilitation of streetlights on the road, the dark alleys became well lit making it hard for crooks to hide from the glare.

It’s no wonder this operation I witnessed from the pedestrian bridge took place with the help of a getaway taxi instead of an Okada; the absence of okadas and introduction of street lights seems to have heightened the desperation of robbers.

We’re in the ‘ember’ months – fast moving towards the month of the ultimate celebrations – December; but while getting into the fanfare we should be very vigilant and prayerful because there are people out there who want to do Christmas and new year or perform quarterly rituals by any means possible.

God help us all.