A 32-yr-old man, Osas Lucky, has escaped being killed as threatened by the elders and youths of his Idunmwun-Ugha village over his refusal to accept a traditional ritual title of chief priest, which his late mother held sway in the village as head.
It would be recalled that the mother of Osas Lucky, Late Mrs. Mabel Osarenogowu Agbontaen, Nee Omorowa, was the head of a very frightening shrine as chief priest, a position she held until her demise and her subsequent burial ceremony which began on Friday June 6 and ended Sunday June 8 2008 after thanksgiving service was held at the church where he (Osas Lucky) attended as a devoted Christian.
A source who spoke on the issues to confirm the travail of Osas Lucky, but declined to give his identity for fear of being killed in a reprisal attack, said that he had lived in the neigbourhood with the deceased mother of Osas Lucky and that trouble started immediately after the burial ceremony was climaxed with thanksgiving service.
He said that the elders of the village who had wanted to disrupt the Church service when they got the wind of the Church programme, sent delegates to him (Osas Lucky) at his residence in Ikpoba Okha to let him known that he should be ready to become the ritual Chief priest, but the defiant Christian turned down their obligation as he declined.
The source further said that his declination did not go down well with the elders, hence they started threatening him, especially when it became apparent that he was the eldest son of his late mother and was expected to assume the position in that capacity.
He added that after exhausting all possible means to lure him to accepting the traditional ritual title, but failed, the elders, who felt embarrassed by the development, vowed to deal with him and as such, mandated the youths to begin to trail him to catch so that they could force him into initiation process or alternatively to kill him if he refuses and fails to abide.
The source explained that when the youths were on their way to invade his house for that reason, he (Osas Lucky) who was fortunate, escaped, stressing that disappointed by his escape, the elders boasted to continually look for him, since he had disgraced them and defied their tradition by his refusal, insisting that even if it takes him twenty years, they shall kill him for insulting their tradition, pointing out that though, ordinarily, he ought to have reported the matter to the police, but because the matter was a traditional matter, It has to be dealt with traditionally, particularly against the backdrop of the threats of using charm to kill him spiritually.
He explained that the matter lingered on from that 2008 till recently precisely on the 15th March 2009 when he finally escaped their death traps and that his whereabout remains unknown as at press time.
