It was gathered that child was last Tuesday deliberately fed with a plate of fried rice laced with an unknown poisonous substance.
The victim’s father, sources allege, collaborated with his wife to take their son’s life in reaction to a prophecy that the child was a wizard who was attempting to harm his pregnant mother.
Though one John Okoh, 43, and another, Pastor Aniekan Achiobong have been arrested for complicity, the alleged prophet of doom, Prophet Ini Monday of the Caretaker Light of God Church, 8, Uyi Street, off Goody Goody Street, Upper Sakponba Road, Benin City has been declared wanted by the police in Benin City.
The spokesman, Edo Police Command, ASP Peter Ogboi who confirmed the incident advised members of the public to be mindful of prophecy.
According to him the police have spread their dragnet to arrest the fleeing ‘prophet’, while the victim’s father and two others now in police net would be charged for murder.
However, it was gathered that the dead son had been sick for some time which prompted the parents to seek for spiritual solution that led them to the church where the deadly prophecy was given.
A police source said Mr. Effiong denied giving his son poison. According to him, while speaking in pidgin: “If I give am poison make I die.”
He continued: “When I was caught by the police, I told them that it was my baby I was carrying in the bag. When they brought it out, the baby’s leg was shaking. My wife is not well. I told police that my son was dead and I was going to bury him. They told me in a church in my village that if I am not careful, that the baby will kill me and that it will still die. The pastor told me the child will not last with me and that it will die.”
A co-pastor in the church where the prophecy was delivered, pastor Aniekan Achiobong said he was in the church when the parents brought the baby but that he did not hear when his co-pastor gave them the prophecy.
He said he was a security man and that he was called by God when he was young. John Okoh said he was not aware that the father poisoned the baby and that when the police arrested them on their way to bury the baby, the baby was sneezing.
When asked if the baby was still sneezing while he was trying to bury him, he said the plan was to bury the baby alive, but it suffocated in the bag it was carried in.
On the website of a popular NGO which combats the killing of ‘child witches’ in Nigeria, portion of a report said the deeply held belief by the people of Akwa Ibom State and the Efik speaking communities in Cross River State cuts across all tiers of society. It continued: “Widely read and travelled academics and local villagers fear such children. This fear stems from the belief that a spiritual spell can be given to a person through food and drink. The soul of the person who eats this spell will then leave the body to be initiated in a gathering of witches and wizards.” People who believe in it also feel all accidents, drunkenness mental health problems, smoking of marijuana, divorce, infertility, and misfortunes are seen to be the handiwork of the so-called witches and wizards. “In recent times it is believed that children have become the target for initiation by the elderly witches as they are more susceptible to their spells and are quicker in action.”
“It is absolutely barbaric to hold such baseless superstitions,” said an NGO worker who craved anonymity. “People who subscribe to it should be ashamed of themselves.”
| Posted: at | |
TRENDING GISTS 
Lagos Lady Recounts Ordeal in 'One Chance' Bus, Says She Was Hypnotized, Robbed & Abandoned
2025 U-20 AFCON: Check Out All 8 Teams That Qualified For Quarter-Finals
Watch Loved-Up Moment Portable's Wife, Ashabi Shared With The Singer (Video)