The Siege of 'Ember' Months
Chronicled by
Afronuts
@
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
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.
3 Screamer(s):
May God help us.. It's all too scary to think of.
@ay....amen oh! We are in his hands!
Prayer is the key thing at every point in time. Some men have decided to continue in wickedness against fellow men, so we all have to be careful. People should please avoid late night movements as much as possible. It is also our hope and prayer that government lives up to its responsibility of lighting up the streets, at least for security sake.
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