The traditional ruler of Owa Kingdom, Ika North East local government area of Delta State, His Majesty, Dr Emmanuel Efeizomor 11, has revoked a century old ancestral curse placed on a section of the community, “Ogbe-Ohun Quarter” in Owa Oyibu by his father.
Historical records indicated that the Ogbe-Ohun Quarter, a section of Owa Oyibu, allegedly challenged the authorities and powers of the immediate past King of Owa, Obi Efeizomor 1, and caused the crown to suffer hardship.
Consequently, the king and the entire community of Owa placed a curse on Ogbe-Ohun Quarter for denigrating the crown and bringing the name of their revered king to disrepute.
Some members of the elders’ council condemned the action of those who lied against Obi Efeizomor 1, saying that it was sacrilegious and an affront on the then monarch, as the symbol of the native authority.
Performing the traditional rites of dispelling the age-long curse, the council of elders, spokesman of the Ogbe-Ohun quarter, Mr Samuel Chukwuka Ogboi, at a gathering in the palace, lamented that the people of the quarter had suffered untold hardships, misfortunes and afflictions as a result of the curse.
He said the curse had wreaked havoc and negatively impacted on the wellbeing of the people hence they collectively came to the palace to prevail on their king to forgive them and revoke the curse.
After listening to their plea, the Owa monarch, requested for native chalk and asked God and the ancestors to hearken to the voice of the troubled dissidents and forgive them since they had owned up to their wrong doing and asked for atonement.
While admonishing them to go and sin no more, Efeizomor 11 cautioned that no evil act perpetrated by anybody would go unpunished.
“As the traditional ruler and spiritual leader of the entire Owa Kingdom, no weapon fashioned against him would prosper,” he said.
At the end of the ceremony, the people left the palace fulfilled that having broken the curse, it was now a new dawn in the quest for improved conditions of living amongst them.
