Okija shrine again!

Ezeokoli as an Okija priest.

•More revelations •Native doc speaks on Gov Orji •Converts personal shrine to prayer house
•Ezeokoli as an Okija priest. Inset, top, as a pastor while inset, left, Ezeokoli as a traditional ruler

More revelations have emerged about the dreaded Okija shrine in Anambra State, where political featherweights are allegedly taken to swear to oaths of loyalty by their godfathers, as a pre-requisite for succession in office.

His Royal Highness, Emmanuel Ezeokoli, aka Abiama, a native doctor who practiced for about 25 years has sensationally put to rest the speculation that Abia State Governor, Theodore Ahamefula Orji was ever brought to the shrine for whatever purpose.

The Election Petition Tribunal in the state had annulled Orji’s election, adducing that as one of the reasons, thus acceding to the request of his challenger, Chief Onyema Ugochukwu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The Governor has since appealed that judgment.
But as the head pastor of House of Prayer Healing Ministry, Ezeokoli told Sunday Sun what could be regarded as the gospel truth in an exclusive interview in Lagos, saying as a former native doctor and a native of the town, he has a good account of the goings on there.

“That is absolute nonsense. To begin with, I don’t believe that either the governor (of Abia State) or his former boss (Dr. Orji Uzo Kalu) was a member of a cult. Come to think of it, as a High Chief in Igboland and a native of Okija town, I should be able to know about important personalities in the (South) east. Besides, as a former native doctor of over three decades operating both in Lagos and Okija, I should have met either the governor or his former boss at the shrine,” Ezeokoli argued.
Reminded of the photograph tendered by the opposition at the Election Petition Tribunal purporting it to be that of Governor Orji at the Okija Shrine, Ezeokoli dismissed it thus: “ The so-called evidence of the photograph cannot be relied on. Instead, it posed more questions than answers on the issue.”

According to him, the question to ask is: “what was the person who took the photographs doing in the Shrine? Is the person also a member of the cult and the photographs taken with the consent of the accused and other members?”

Coincidentally, Chief Ezeokoli, the Eze Ndigbo of Alimosho council, lives at Okija Street, along LASU-Isheri road in Obadore part of Lagos. The street was named after him.
Before then, Ezeokoli was a native doctor for over 25 years. But having found the Lord, he reportedly destroyed all the paraphernalia of his fetish practice. Today, the room that served as his shrine is where he now holds prayers. He has also conducted a crusade at Okija.

How I started practicing as herbalist
I am the son of a popular native doctor in Anambra, and in1973 a voice told me that I would be a great healer. I did not understand what that meant, so I went back to bed. But about 15 minutes later, the same voice again said that I should stop going to my master’s office where I was an apprentice welder, and begin the healing job. The voice warned me that I would die if I failed to carry out the instruction.

Encounter with sick woman
The following morning, I was afraid to reveal to people my experience. But after some time, a friend, ‘Hitler Obidinnu’ from Amiyi Ogbaru in Anambra State asked me to accompany him to visit his brother’s wife who was admitted at Onitsha Iyienu Hospital, managed by one Dr. Iwuagwu. I immediately remembered the dream I had the previous night and I asked ‘Hitler’ to tell his brother that I was a native doctor and to assure him that I could heal his wife of her sickness. My understanding then was that it was only native doctors that could heal the sick. But my friend argued, because he only knew my father as a native doctor.

But when I persuaded him and he reluctantly took me to his brother and explained that as the son of a great native doctor in Onitsha, that I could heal his wife. The man agreed because there was little or no hope of survival for the woman at that point.

I just pointed my finger at the woman as I was directed in my dream and said, ‘in the next three days, you will use your legs and come to my house.’ Surprisingly, even before the third day, the woman walked to my place. I was surprised when she came with her people. I didn’t know what to do. I instructed them to bring a goat and fowl (as I used to see my father do with his clients). The relations of the woman gladly brought the items with other gifts.

But when my father heard it, he was annoyed, thinking that I stole them, he asked me to return the goat. It wasn’t until the woman and her relations came with other gifts to show their appreciation that my father believed me.

It was then that I narrated my encounter in the dream him. He equipped me to start off as herbalist and asked me to relocate to Ozobo in the Ijaw area of Rivers State. But a voice continued to caution me not to follow my father’s practice, that I should also move to where he had never been to. Yet, I did not understand the instruction. There was nobody to interpret the divine revelations to me because I was born in a pagan home. So I was rather looking at my father as the only spiritual counselor. After I lived in Ozobo for three years, I relocated to Lagos and still continued practicing as herbalist.

Divine encounter
In November 2006, a man came in my dream and took me to a place and showed me where the power in my shrine had been buried, that my practice would henceforth have no effect so long as I continued with the old practice.

It was at this point that the message became very clear and to me. I therefore burned the entire shrine where I used to make sacrifices in Lagos and Okija, my hometown. I burned all the fetish objects because of the assistance the brethren of Christ Anglican Church, Umuofor Okija, gave me.

Things are different now
I believe I’m now a renewed person, and God is my source of power. Immediately I surrendered to Christ, my wife and I started worshipping God where I had rented out for the sale of beer. About 15 people later joined us, now we are about 100 who gather to pray and worship God every Thursday morning. I have also converted my shrine in Lagos to a prayer place; I study the word of God and pray for people.

Unlike before, I don’t charge for any healing that God uses me to perform through prayers. People in the neighborhood used to see me as a terror, but today they relate freely with me. Nobody can just come to this place (prayer room) when I was using it as a shrine, because of the fetish power, but now, it is dedicated to God. Although I don’t belong to any religious denomination for now, I broaden my knowledge in the word of God through fellowship and reading of books of other experienced men of God. I have registered at Power and Wisdom International Bible Institute, Ojo, Lagos. I know that I need to be tutored in the Bible, but I’m not going to copy anybody in the assignment He commits into my hands. I want to carry it out according to how God directs me. I have also denounced all honour accruing to me as a result of my former practice as a native doctor.

Crusade in Okija
I stormed Okija, my hometown in 2007 for a-two day crusade which we tagged ‘Operation locate your destiny.’ I thank God because other pastors joined in the programme and many lives were touched. My choice of Okija for the crusade is that, the town is known for harbouring a lot of native shrines. I believe that most times, God still brings forth good things from where people thought there was no hope. I’m well known in that community (Okija) as a former native doctor and so I celebrated it as year of discovering destiny in God’s vineyard.

I am happy today that God has given me the grace to burn and denounce the fetish objects in my shrine. If I die, my children will not have anything to do with those items. It was me that brought them and it was me that burnt them and did away with them all. I thank God for keeping me alive to this time to discover my destiny. I want to use this medium to appeal to as many who have got power through occultism to renounce it. I enjoin everyone to come to the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. They should turn away from their evil ways. The devil cannot give power to anybody without him demanding a payback.

Pastor cum traditional Chief
Yes, I'm a pastor and at the same time a traditional Chief. I don’t believe that God is against that. In as much as kingship did not affect the devotion of David, Solomon and Hezekiah and other biblical kings, I don’t believe that being Eze would affect my relationship with God. In the real sense, traditional rulers are leaders, but the mistake that many make today is to believe that every traditional ruler is necessarily into fetish practice. It is not so. As we have devoted believers in every sphere of life, so do we have among kings andchiefs.

Healing with herbs
The Almighty God in His infinite mercy decided to recall me, and redirect me on the best way to heal people through prayers and herbs. I strongly believe that God can reveal the secret of healing of diverse sicknesses with herbs and other natural things like pure honey. It is therefore improper to see the use of these God-given items as occultism.

I ask whoever comes to me to believe, accept and trust in the healing power of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Okija Street in Lagos
I decided to name the place where I built one of my houses in Lagos ‘Okija Street.’ This is because, one, when I came to Lagos, I didn’t have a name to project than my village, since my father was still alive and I so cherished Okija as my birth place. I also held many positions and titles there as a native doctor. I was the former President Anambra Odina ana and Chairman Ihiala Traditional practitioners.
But for about five years, the voice continued to tell me to change my method, that I was not called to be a native doctor like my father. But because of ignorance and the money I was making from the ‘abracadabra’ of consultancy, I turned deaf hears until the appointed time came.

State of the nation
My advice to good people of Nigeria is to allow peace to reign in the land. The political situation in the nation, especially in the eastern part of the country calls for attention. Many have been commending the judiciary in the 2007 elections, but on the nullifications of Abia State governorship election based on allegation that the Governor, Theodore Orji was a member of the cult, and that he was taken to Okija shrine by his former boss, to swear, is absolute nonsense. That is absolute nonsense. To start with, I don’t believe that either the governor or his former boss was a member of a cult. Come to think of it, as a High Chief in Igboland and native of Okija town, I should be able to know much about important personalities in the east.

Besides, as a former native doctor of over three decades, operating both in Lagos and Okija, I should have met either the embattled governor or his former boss at the shrine. The evidence of the pictures cannot be relied on. They posed more questions than answer on the issue.
The questions to ask are: ‘what was the person who took the pictures doing in the shrine? Is the person also a member of the cult? Are the photographs taken with the consent of the accused and other members?’